


Ghoul in Seoul

by thebermudatriangle



Category: Stray Kids (Band), Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Multi, little to no romance for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 98,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23746834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebermudatriangle/pseuds/thebermudatriangle
Summary: “Who are you?”“I’m your average doctor. Just with a little extra intelligence and a lot more insanity~” The man said in a sinister way of a sing-song expression.“What did you do to me?” Felix asked, shocked and angry.The man said nothing, and instead reached into his coat pocket, taking out a small handheld mirror. The man then gestured at him to look at the mirror, “Why don’t you see for yourself?”
Relationships: Bang Chan/Everyone, Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han, Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Bang Chan/Hwang Hyunjin, Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Han Jisung | Han/Everyone, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung | Han/Kim Seungmin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Hwang Hyunjin/Everyone, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Kim Seungmin/Everyone, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)/Everyone, Lee Felix/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Lee Felix/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Everyone, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Seo Changbin/Everyone, Yang Jeongin | I.N/Everyone
Comments: 64
Kudos: 295





	1. Prologue

_Lee Felix_ , a young boy with a unique view on the world. Ever since he was a child, he had never understood what seemed like logic to others. He could never see why humans were so against cohabitation with ghouls. Why did the other have to die for the other to live? Couldn’t they live in harmony? 

It was due to this that he was constantly beaten up by his parents as though they were trying to ingrain the idea that it was kill or be killed when it came to dealing with ghouls. Even then he still did not yield, he firmly believed in himself. It can’t be only him who thought that way, right?

 _Wrong._ How very wrong he was. No matter how many years had passed, no matter how many different people he’d met, not one shared the same views. So he conceded. He no longer questioned why. He just accepted it as it is, becoming akin to the rest of society. Mindless robots, who would blindly believe anything they were told. 

Of course, even if he did concede to society's expectations of him and started to fear them, he couldn’t quench his ever growing frustration at the subject. Subsequently, he turned to sports and martial arts. That being Taekwondo in particular. His parents had surprisingly been supportive of this as they considered it a hobby he enjoys and a homage to his culture as a korean. 

To Felix however it was more than a homage or interest. It was something that had allowed him to feel free. No matter how short the time he got to fight. 

It was to no surprise that Taekwondo had soon become a passion, a dream. Felix, without any doubt in mind, he chose to pursue his ambitions. His parents however, did not approve of this. He fought for days, weeks, months but nothing seemed capable of changing their minds. Become a doctor they said or a lawyer, a CCG officer, anything other than what he really wanted. 

This was his only release and they couldn’t even let him have this? 

_And so he ran._


	2. The Abduction

A thousand feet in the air, Felix starts questioning himself. He can’t fluently speak the language and here he was moving to the damn country without anyone to help him. Heck he had no money, no plans, nothing.

He spent everything he had on the plane ticket itself. The only consolation he has is that at least it was a new start to his life. No one has control over him anymore. He can make his own decisions on how to live his life. He reassures himself that everything will be fine. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

With that thought in mind, he quickly calms down. He takes a look at his surroundings and to his confusion the plane was rather empty. Did something bad happen in Korea for there to not be many visitors?

_“Please fasten your seatbelts as we will be landing at Incheon International Airport in 5 minutes.”_

Well then, looks like he’ll just have to find out himself.

~*~*~*~*~

Finally having gone through all the checks and collected all his baggage Felix made his way out of the airport. He really wondered whether something bad had happened in Korea recently because not only the plane, even the airport itself is quite empty, being almost completely devoid of people.

Following the signs, he made his way to the bus ticketing counter. Quickly queuing up behind the few other people who were also planning to take the bus, he pondered over where to go. Seoul? Busan? Daegu? Considering the few bills he had in hand, he figured he would go to Seoul. It was the capital and the closest to the airport.

Felix, along with a few other people, hopped onto the bus that would take him to Seoul, and sat at a seat in the back, near to the exit. As the bus moved towards the city, he looked out the window, taking in the scenery. It was no longer the vast fields of green that he grew up around but instead tall grey towers that pierced through the sky.

What really struck him though, _was the lack of people._ First it had been the plane, then the airport and now even in the streets? There must be something he was unaware of. Had a pandemic broken out or were people in Korea all shut-ins who never came out of their homes for reasons other than work or school?

Then again it was quite late, the sun having long since set. There was also the undeniable threat of ghouls attacking them in the dark of the night. It would actually probably be the main reason. After all, even he who thought that not all Ghouls are evil or bad still feared them.

Others would probably start quivering at just the thought.

To be fair, as far as he knew, no one shared his opinions on the subject anyway.

Having at last found closure to his thoughts, several others had started to rise, although he was on his way to Seoul, what would he do once he arrived? Would he be able to find a job? Where would he stay? Would he even be able to pursue his dream? Would the instructors agree to teach him even though he had no money to spare? His impulsive decision to run away from home in order to pursue his dream sounded amazing when he had first decided to do it, but the moment he got into the boat that he believed would take him to his dream, his anxiousness only rose as he started sailing, the tides and waves that were represented by his thoughts seemed not to be stopped however, no matter how much of a rippled force would pass him.

Millions of such doubts however once again rose in his mind, he eventually fell into a daze, and soon, a quiet and shallow slumber.

Felix woke up at the bus driver shouting at the passengers to get off of the bus so he could return back to the airport and turn in for the night. He felt a bit disoriented, and confused at first but rapidly got up after he realised he had fallen asleep on the bus. He grabbed his belongings, a backpack and a suitcase, and scampered out of the bus.

He proceeded to start walking along the dark and desolate street, hoping to think of something he could do while he did. He wandered around the streets of soul taking turns when he felt he had been walking forward in one direction for too long.

A couple of hours later, he’d found himself in front of a park. The feeling of exhaustion had started to sink in, he thought to himself, ‘I guess I’ll be sleeping on the park bench tonight.’ While he did worry for his safety, especially, since any random person ghoul or not could just find him sleeping in the park and assault him. _He wasn't left with much of a choice however._

Felix strolled around the park grounds until he finally came across a bench. He walked over and sat down, staring blankly into the distance. Now that it had come to this, he felt really distraught. Tears collected in his eyes before finally falling and paving trails down his cheeks.

Despite his predicament, he hadn’t failed to notice the faint sound of what seemed to be the breaking of a branch. He swiftly turned his head back, but he saw no one there. _‘Maybe I was just imagining things.’_ he thought and thus lowered his guard.

It was at that moment a hand carrying a cloth clamped his mouth and nose, causing him to slowly lose consciousness. _Chloroform._ With this knowledge in mind, he struggled even harder mustering up all the energy he had left. He held back as much as he could in order not to inhale the toxic fumes that were just itching to enter his body and do what they did best. He struggled to try to free himself, hitting, punching, kicking but to no avail.

He couldn’t break free. Eventually, no longer being able to hold his breath, Felix took a breath and immediately started to feel even more faint. Elbowing the person behind him he heard a grunt and the hold on him loosened. He immediately broke free and started running towards the trees hoping to escape from the assaulter’s sight. Unfortunately for him it seems the man had not been alone.

As soon as he ran past the tree he felt a harsh hit at the nape of his neck. The world started spinning and slowly dim as he fell and with another punch straight to the head he closed his eyes, the world turning dark.


	3. The Mad Scientist

“Wake up.”

Felix groans, feeling a pain in the back of his neck as he slowly regains consciousness. He takes some time to try to clear his muddled mind, before feeling a sudden, harsh blow to his middle. Felix wrapped his arms around himself, in hopes of covering his midsection. He rolls around, pain lingering. 

_“I said wake up!”_

Another blow. Felix, confusedly tries to listen to what the baritone voice is telling him. He attempts to open his eyes only to shut them close again due to the blinding light above him. Despite feeling very disoriented, he tries once again slowly. He slowly regains his vision and soon back spots at the corner of his eyes disappeared right before his vision started to focus.

“Where am I?” Felix asks, his voice raspy.

His question was left unanswered. He first saw a pair of black boots in front of him. His eyes trail upwards following the silhouette of the figure standing before him. Due to the light on the ceiling, the man’s face was covered in shadows. However, it did nothing to mask the cold, sharp glint in the man’s dark black eyes as he stared at Felix.

The man took a step back and talked to someone, through what Felix assumes to be an ear-comm before another man walked through the room door located behind the said man. The man, who woke him up nodded to the other male and left, shutting the door closed after him.

The man wore a white dress shirt, black slacks and pristine leather boots to match. The most eye-catching part, however, was his long, thin, white overcoat - He looked like a doctor- What made Felix certain that he wasn’t one, or at least, not the type he wished he was however, would be the sadistic grin he had on his face as he stared at Felix.

The doctor hummed a tune merrily, as though he really was having a moment of unadulterated joy. He walked up to Felix, who had quickly scrambled up from his position on the floor. As the doctor approached him, he scooted backwards until he hit his back against a wall. The man’s smile seemed to stretch impossibly wider _into a terrifying grin_. Felix averted his eyes, unable to bear looking at the man any longer. 

The man did not let Felix do so for long, as he lunged forward and grabbed Felix by his chin, staring straight into his eyes as he started to talk to Felix, his tone ever so cheerful, “Well, well, well. Aren’t you just a beauty? I must say the red really accentuates your face.”

 _“R-red?”_ Felix asks in confusion. As far as he knew his hair had always been blonde and there was no way his eyes were red. He was born with brown irises after all, and he was proud of them. Everyone complimented his eyes, and they were the one thing that he got from his parents which he _actually_ liked and cherished.

The man laughed happily and said,“Your eyes darling, your eyes. They’re just beautiful. They are a testimony to my first successful experiment from the past decade.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m your average doctor. Just with a little extra intelligence and a lot more insanity~” The man said in a sinister way of a sing-song expression.

“What did you do to me?” Felix asked, shocked and angry.

The man said nothing, and instead reached into his coat pocket, taking out a small handheld mirror. The man then gestured at him to look at the mirror, “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

Felix’s eyes widened in disbelief at what little he could see from the mirror. “M-my eyes. My eyes. My eyes! What did you do to it?!” Felix said reaching for his face as he cried in agony, both his eyes widening due to the shock he was experiencing.

“Oh I didn’t do anything to your eye, sweetheart. That's just what happens when you transplant a ghoul’s kagune into a human~ I guess you could say that, it’s a side effect?” The man chuckled gleefully. 

“It’s a shame really, that only one eye turns red.” The man disappointedly whispered under his breath, much too silent for the blonde to hear.

Felix hitched his breath, forming his hands into a fist, clenching it as hard as he could, his fingernails dug into his palms, to the point of bleeding due to the pressure, he clenched his teeth as well, as he backed into a stance, he was ready to punch that man right in the face, and wipe off the cocky and annoying face off of him.

He wished to decorate his face with blue bruises and red strokes of blood that would ooze out of freshly cut scars, his rage was out of reach, however he was stopped when suddenly, loud noises and clamors could be heard from beyond the door and tremors reverberated through the walls. The man’s eyes narrowed in displeasure before he used his ear comm and asked what all the fuss was about.

It seemed like something had gone horribly wrong on the other end as the man started to shout in the comms. Felix however, failed to notice anything that was going on, as he was still trapped in his thoughts of destroying him, as he questioned why he would possibly do such a thing, how and why did it come to be? What would happen if he tried to attack now? He could put in some of his training into use, it would be a step closer to something at the very least.

Felix only snapped back into reality when the large metal door to the room had literally flown off of its hinges and crashed onto the floor with a loud bang. Dust flew around the room and when it cleared, He could see the large dent around what seemed to be a mark made by a fist. Whoever tried to get in the room had a monstrously abnormal amount of strength. 

A man could be seen crouching on top of the door, wearing a long black leather coat, he also had black turtleneck underneath everything, only visible due to the black fabric wrapping around the man's neck. He wore pure black cargo pants and a pair of black calf-high combat boots. 

The man’s face was covered by a black wolf-like mask with an apparent deep-cut scar strewn across the mask’s face. It had a furred segment that is dark grey, and a lower chin segment that had a non-furred boned-like shell to represent the white pigment found on a real wolf. Only one eye was open, the other eye was sewn shut, like it was closed for eternity. 

The all-black outfit only further accentuated the man’s unnatural white hair, and the two small silver earrings that he wore on his left ear and the other on his right. A single thought immediately crossed Felix’s mind.

_‘Ghoul.’_

  
  



	4. Alpha

The white haired man stared at the doctor. He growled at the man and with the wolf-like mask he had on it had made him seem like a gigantic wolf who was about to pounce on his prey. The white haired man was so focused on his prey that he failed to notice Felix who was sitting against the wall.

He ran towards the man and rammed against him before moving back a step and wrapping his hand around the doctor’s neck, choking him. Felix’s breath hitched in surprise, causing the white haired man’s head to snap back and look at him.

The man’s anger filled red eye stared at Felix, causing him to cower in fear. Felix moved backward as fast as he could, sitting at the farthest corner of the room from the man. Soon the doctor stopped struggling and the white haired man crushed his neck before letting the now-dead body drop lifelessly, onto the ground. The white haired man walked towards Felix slowly and came to a stop before him. 

The man’s eye seemed to turn soft, as he scanned Felix’s trembling figure. He crouched down and reached his hand out, but stopped midway when he heard loud noises from down the hall. Both Felix and the man looked up and saw a swarm of people running down the hall while carrying weapons.

 _‘Quinques, they’re CCG officers.’_ Felix thought, turning happy at the prospect of being saved.

“Help me!” Felix shouted, he faced towards them, practically begging. He didn’t want to be here any longer, all he wanted was to get out of that place.

“They are not going to help you.” The white haired man said.

“T-they will, I'm human.” Felix said, unsure.

”Are you sure?” The man said, Felix hitched at his words.

_“Stop lying to yourself.”_

The CCG officers came closer with each passing second. The man didn’t seem to mind though. He just stayed in place, as the investigators stood inside the room surrounding them. Four tentacle-like limbs appeared from his lower back.

“Alpha! Stop right there!” shouted one of the investigators as they all pointed their quinques at the man.

The man, Alpha, ignored them and looked at Felix before whispering to him, _“Sleep.”_

Once again Felix feels his vision turning black as the man knocks him out.

~*~*~*~*~

“I wonder when he’s going to wake up?” a muffled voice asked.

“Did I hit too hard?” the owner of the voice continued, clearly talking to himself, if the lack of response was any indication.

Felix gradually regained his consciousness, his head spinning in circles. He felt a soft material beneath him as he moved around. It felt familiar, as though he’s laid down on one before. With his head turned to the left, he slowly opened his eyes, saw the sheets and pillows quickly realising he was in fact on a bed. 

He started to look around in confusion. When he turned to his right, he saw a figure sitting on a chair that was situated next to the bed, looking straight at him. Not expecting such a thing, he let out a small shout in surprise. 

Felix quickly scanned the male. He had a rather small and short stature, despite his broad shoulders. Wearing all black clothing which highly contrasted the unnatural white color of his hair. He was quite obviously the man from earlier, but it didn’t seem as though Felix realised this. The male had immediately turned away when he looked at him, obviously trying to avoid his gaze. 

Felix lowered his gaze towards the man’s hands and froze as he saw what the man was holding. 

A wolf-like mask.

Unusual white hair. Wolf mask. Suddenly the memories of what had happened came crashing forward as he went through the events once more. All the way until just before he blacked out. Having just relived what was likely to be the worst thing that he had ever gone through, he couldn’t help but turn pale.

‘Oh god...’

“Hey.. so uhm, sorry for hitting your head back there. Hope it doesn’t hurt that much.” Alpha said, smiling awkwardly at Felix. 

Felix quickly jumped off of the mattress and ran towards, what he assumed to be, the exit, trying to escape from wherever it was that the male was holding him captive right now. It seemed that it was of little use, however, as the male had quickly latched onto his arm, holding him back.

“Hey hey hey. It’s fine. You’re safe here.” The male said. 

“You’re a ghoul! How can you expect me to believe what you say?! Let go of me!” Felix exclaimed, struggling to break free from the male’s tight grip. He soon calmed down and tried to throw the man over his shoulder - a classic Taekwondo move. The man, however, didn’t move even a single inch and stayed rooted in place. This had no doubt caused Felix to become flustered subsequently causing him to once again begin to fall into a flurry of panic.

Felix, in his panic, had accidentally nailed the man right in the groin, sending the male down to the ground as tears formed at the corners of his eyes. _‘Alpha’_ having been caught off guard, also in massive pain, had unknowingly loosened the grip on his arm which the blonde had used to advantage, immediately bolting off as this may be the only chance he had to escape. 

He slammed the bedroom door open which had revealed a somewhat long corridor with a few doors in the distance. Sprinting down the corridor, he instantly noticed the footsteps that raced after him, prompting him to approach the nearest door in sight. 

It was apparent that he was much too slow as Alpha had reached the door first, blocking his path. Well, it was either that or the white-haired male had taken a short cut and considering that it was just a corridor it was safe to say that the male did indeed have the same enhanced speed as any other ghoul.

He turned around to see if there was anything he could use or do but while he was busy doing that, the male had cornered him. With his back pressed against the wall and no place to run to in sheer panic and stress, he screamed, “S-stay away from me!”

Felix suddenly felt a protruding object pressing against his lower back, it felt a little itchy yet warm at the same time. The man that was trying to get him to stop took a step back, his gaze locking above his head. Confused and feeling weird with the sudden change of atmosphere, he tried to see whatever it was the male was so focused on for himself. Turning his head upwards, he was instantly silenced. 

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing,

_Two long, red, tentacle-like limbs._

  
  



	5. One-eyed Ghoul

“Wha-what is this? Are t-these..?” 

_‘Is this what that psycho-doctor was talking about when he said I’m a testimony of his experiment? Did he really transplant a kagune into me? Who am I kidding? I have two red tentacles behind me. But why would he do such a thing? Why had he conducted such experiments in the first place? Why me?’_ the blonde internally questioned, losing himself in his train of inquerries; a habit he, admittedly, had become accustomed to.

The other male was also lost in thought, albeit them being a much simpler, ‘Shit! What do I say? What do I say? What do I say? What do I say? What do I s-’

“Oh, you have a rinkaku?! Me too!” ‘Alpha’ blurted out suddenly.

Almost immediately afterwards he started to inwardly curse at himself about how he had royally fucked up and how stupid his brain was being right now. However, It wasn’t as though he could take back what had already been done, so he continued to push forward, showing a forced smile -not that the other could tell.

Once again he berated his idiotic brain, as he exclaimed, “Congratulations!” 

Hearing this, Felix, who had been snapped out of his thoughts from the male’s first bout, couldn’t stop himself from deadpanning as he looked at the male with a judgmental gaze, hershey retorting, “I don’t think that’s something that you should be congratulating someone for!”

“Right…” Alpha said, ruffling his hair as the two awkwardly stared at one another in silence.

“Sorry?” 

Felix remained completely silent, confused why one of his -now long list of- kidnappers would apologise.

‘Wait! Maybe he doesn’t understand what I’m saying? Just because he seems Korean doesn’t necessarily mean he can speak the language.’ 

Recalling that the teen had just spoken to him a few moments ago, ‘Alpha’ muttered under his breath. “No, no, no. I’m pretty sure he understands Korean, he spoke to me just now.” 

Looking at the blonde he started doubting himself, ‘Or maybe not?’

“Can you understand Korean?” 

The blonde couldn’t figure out what the ghoul was trying to do but he refused to budge, deciding that it was best to stay silent. It seemed the male had taken Felix’s lack of a response the wrong way as he asked the teen once again _in english_ this time, hoping he would reply, **_“Are you able to understand korean, mate?”_ **

The sound of english along with the familiar accent escaping the ghoul’s mouth surprised Felix and effectively broke whatever resolve he had built up as he looked at the white-haired male with an expression that was simultaneously full of both shock and joy, **_“You’re Australian too!?”_ **

**“** **_Yeah…”_ **He replied, giving a small nod.

 **_“I’m Chan, by the way._ ** **”** Alpha or rather _Chan_ said with a smile, happy to acknowledge the fact that they were both, in fact, Australian. 

However, when he began to remember the condition he had found the blonde in and what he knew had happened to Felix, he started to frown. Felix’s expression had lightened up after finding out that Chan was an Australian as well. He also seemed to relax a bit, tension releasing from his muscles and shoulders slumping down.

Chan smiled and continued to converse with the teen, hoping that he would open up, **“** **_You still haven’t answered my question, you know?_ ** **”**

“Ah, right.” Felix said as he subconsciously slipped back into korean. He wasn’t exactly fluent, but he was still accustomed to sometimes using the language mixed with english, when conversing with his parents and his korean friends. It also helped that he had studied a bit the past few years, having wanted to keep running away to Korea as a viable option.

“Oh! so you know korean?” Chan asked. 

**“I usually speak English with my parents, I can understand and speak korean but it takes a while to get what you’re trying to say since I’m not used to it.”** Felix replied.

 **“That’s fine! I can help you and we could be Australian buddies, yay!”** Chan said, smiling brightly.

 **“It’s good to see that, you forgot all about panicking over those.”** Chan said, pointing towards the two protruding limbs coming out from Felix's lower back. 

“It’s fine.” Felix said, flicking his wrist in a carefree manner, staring into the male’s eyes that were displaying jis genuine worry.

‘That’s more than mom and dad ever did for me.’

Looking down at his feet, the blonde whispered his reply, “I think... I think I can trust you...” 

There was yet another moment of silence, not a single audible sound could be heard. They stared at each other, different thoughts surging to the forefront of their minds.

Felix tilted his head upwards and glanced up, conflictingly gazing at his new -deadly- limbs and soon a hundred of doubts formed in his head. Looking at his expression, Chan almost instantly knew that the blonde teen was terrified. Just thinking of the things the psycho had done to the teen made him uncomfortable. Chan understood very well that all of this was a new experience for Felix - it would be for any human. 

He let out a sigh, _‘Another one, huh?’_

Chan glanced at the younger and slowly approached, holding his hands in front of him. While he knew the blonde, supposedly, trusted him, he didn’t want to take any chances and hoped that keeping his hands within Felix’s vision would provide the younger male some sort of consolidation. Once he was sure Felix felt calm enough for him to come closer, he placed his hand on Felix’s shoulder carefully. 

_“_ **_Hey buddy. Wait here for a bit. I need to show you something._ ** _”_ Chan said calmly. 

Chan went out for some time before coming back with a broken glass mirror shard on one hand. Felix was a bit tense, afterall, it wasn’t exactly easy to swallow the fact that the very same man that had bare handedly killed the crazy doctor was holding a sharp object right in front of him. 

**_“Felix, listen to me.”_ **Chan started. Just as he was about to continue, he was abruptly stopped by Felix.

 **“Wait, how do you know my name?”** Felix asked, shocked. He certainly remembered that he had never introduced himself, and that it was Chan alone who had introduced himself, and that the white-haired male hadn’t asked him for his own.

Chan snapped his fingers in realisation as he lowered his hand into his pocket and pulled out something that Felix recognized right away _, his passport_. The male held it up at eye level, showing it to the younger, as he smiled and said, “You're also younger than me.”

 **_“Sorry for the invasion of privacy. I needed to know who exactly I was bringing into my home.”_ **Chan said as he threw the passport so that Felix could catch it.

 **_“Anyways moving on.”_ ** Chan said, humming as he tried to find a way to tell the younger male what he had become, **_“Try to remember. When you see a ghoul on tv , what do they all have in common?”_ **

Even when Felix tried to focus his thoughts on what the older had asked him to do, part of his mind was still preoccupied with the sharp glass shard that Chan was still holding. After a moment of thinking, the younger male came across an answer and hesitantly replied, unsure if this was what the older wanted to hear, _“_ **_That.. they have blood red eyes._ ** _”_

Smiling Chan nodded and offered the blonde the glass shard, slowly warming him up and guiding him to the truth as he asked, “Exactly, now look at yourself. What do you see?” 

Felix hesitantly took the glass shard from Chan’s hand, being careful to not accidentally cut himself on one of the sharp edges. His hands trembled in fear and anxiety as he used the shard to look at himself. Carefully observing himself, he made sure to avoid his eyes which he had known deep-down that Chan was subtly yet intentionally clueing him on, wanting he had wanted to stall as much as he could.

Eventually running out of things to look at coupled with the older’s encouraging expression, he knew he would have to do it sooner or later. While still being able to see his lingering red limbs through the corner of his eyes, his eyes had finally landed on its reflection in the shard. 

He noticed the familiar red iris and black sclera that were characteristic to ghouls - the one he had seen that day with the psycho doctor. Unable to suppress himself, tears formed as he shut his eyes, hoping that it would help him will them away, whimpering as he answered, “I’m the same… I-I have their eyes” 

“I’m… a ghoul.” At this point, his voice was basically a whisper, barely audible with slight tremors.

Chan clenched his fist, he didn’t like that the younger was so distressed. He wouldn’t wish sadness on anyone who didn’t deserve it and the younger was definitely undeserving of it. However, he knew he had to continue, it would be best if the blonde knew for the sake of his own safety, “Yes, but you’re different.” 

With a confused expression, the younger snapped his head at the older’s direction.

 **_“The difference between you and other ghouls? You're a one-eyed ghoul and that makes you very special, Felix.”_ **Chan softly reassured, as he moved the teen’s hand, angling the shard so that the younger could see his other eye - his human eye.

Seeing as how Felix just stayed quiet, Chan felt the need to continue to elaborate further. The white-haired male thought that it might help the blonde to accept what he had become if he understood his situation more and continued, **“** **_What I mean to say is even though you have a kagune and the strength of a ghoul, you’re still partially human. Although you’ll come to learn that you're more ghoul than human now.”_ **

**_“_ ** This is ca- **_it can be a lot to take in all at once.”_ **Chan said, worry evident in his tone.

“ **_If it makes you feel any better we could talk about it more later on?_ ** It’s quite late. **_I think both you and I could use some rest._ **Or we could continue. We don’t have to but if you want to then...” He continued starting to anxiously rant due to how tense and still the atmosphere was. 

Felix remained wordless.

After a while of silently waiting while watching the younger, Chan knew that the conversation was going on one-sidedly, and that both of them were getting increasingly anxious. Heathen decided to act quickly and called out, “Felix.” 

It seemed that the younger was still out of it, unresponsive to the holler. Chan held the back of his head confused on what to do to help the younger. He paced around, walking in circles hoping that it would trigger some sort of thought or idea to pop up in his otherwise barren mind.

Coughing up what little resolve he had he called out to the blonde once more, “Hey, Felix?”

Despite not saying anything Felix still turned to face the white-haired ghoul. Internally breathing a sigh of relief, the older male took the acknowledgement of his presence as a sign that the younger was allowing him to continue - not that he couldn’t without permission, just that Chan didn’t want to push the teen too much. 

The older continued to talk, glad that there weren’t any adverse reactions, ”It’s getting really late.”

“Do you have a place to stay the night?” He added, looking down as he didn’t want the younger to feel pressured by his gaze while making sure that he didn’t sound as though he was plotting something behind the blonde’s back. 

Still hearing no reply he turned his head towards Felix, no longer being able to hold back his urge. Almost immediately, he noticed that the teen was in the same state as him.

 _Lost_ in every sense of the word. 

Despite Chan’s efforts to seem harmless, Felix was evidently still hesitant to respond. He knew, however, that he didn’t have much of an option. After all, it was either Chan or finding himself out on the streets of Seoul once again, all alone, at night, where he could easily get kidnapped once again. 

Shudders ran down his back at the thought and he shook his head harshly, not wanting to be reminded of the night where everything started, the night that had caused him to end up in his position now. Since Chan was very much unable to read someone’s mind, he had mistakenly taken the shaking of the blonde’s head as an answer, and although not entirely wrong, it wasn’t what the younger had intended.

“That’s fine. I have a lot of spare rooms. You can stay in one of them.” Chan said, patting Felix on the shoulder. He then made a hand gesture, ushering the teen to follow him to a room up the staircase on the other end of the hall which prior to this, the blonde had completely missed due to his panic. 

The room itself was minimalistic and that was while exaggerating what was sitting in front of him. Inside of it was actually a near completely empty with only a small, old cupboard and a pile of neatly folded, white bed sheets propped up against the wall. 

“Sorry, I don’t have much. Normally guests that stay here don’t come in one piece.” Chan said, attempting to make a joke to ease the tension. 

Felix, however, simply nodded, not at all responding to the joke with the laughter or smile that the older wanted. 

Chan, was once again left unsure of what to do and nodded back before hesitantly leaving the room shutting the door behind him leaving Felix alone. The blonde slowly made his way to the make-shift bed the ghoul had just prepared for him and laid down.

At first, it was just quiet. As though time finally stood still and allowed him to process everything. After, many thoughts flew around his mind.

He had been kidnapped, experimented on, kidnapped once again yet somehow he was suddenly laying down about to rest. Without having to worry about anything or at least Chan had said so. Everything went by so fast. It was honestly surprising that he didn’t get any whiplash from how fast life seemed to go.

Soon enough, Felix heard his stomach growl. He was hungry. The hunger led him to come to realisation. One that he didn’t know whether or not he wanted to accept.  
  


_He’s a ghoul now._

_He needed to kill, in order to survive._

_He needed to kill his own kind, or rather, his former kind._

_Human flesh was his delicacy; human blood his luxury._

  
  
  


It seemed he had made his choice.

Unable to bear with his thoughts anymore, he grabbed his throbbing head. He stood up, tripping over his own feet keeling in pain. No longer able to contain his agony, he screamed silently, not wanting to alarm the white-haired ghoul. The sharp pain in his throat that resulted from releasing his pent up emotions made it hard for him to breathe. He looked around the room trying to find something, anything he could use to relieve his stress and anger. Well he did. 

_A window._

Without much thought he walked over to the window, stumbling along the way. He held the levers and turned them, pushing open through the hinges. He stopped for a moment, suddenly feeling hesitant. Looking back momentarily, thinking about the man that was kind enough to offer him shelter and rescue. Unfortunately, it seemed that he couldn’t stop his thoughts.

‘However kind he may be, he was still a ghoul. He was still one of those _rotten_ , _scumful_ ghouls that did nothing but kill to survive,’ as said by his parents, who had long since drilled this mindset of thinking into him, and it looked like there was nothing that could be done to change it.

Determined, he jumped.

  
  



	6. The Marionette

Chan was concerned. Felix had seemed really out of it. 

After an hour of tossing and turning in his bed, he finally got up and walked over to Felix’s room. He stood in front of the room somewhat hesitant. Should he knock? Should he just enter and take a peek? 

After all they had just seperated a mere hour ago. He didn’t want to seem overbearing or domineering, he was just genuinely concerned for Felix. It’s just that he couldn’t shake off the bad feeling he had in his gut. Then again it could just be his insomnia doing its job of keeping him up all night. 

_‘Felix is probably sleeping anyway. I’ll take a quick peek to see if he’s okay.’_ Chan argued to himself. 

‘ _He won't even notice I'm there.’_ He continued. 

To his utter surprise however, there was no one in the room. The make-shift bed was laid out on the ground so he couldn’t have gone into the wrong room. His mind went on an overdrive as he started envisioning all the things that could have happened while Felix was alone in the room. 

Was he kidnapped? No, no. Maybe he wanted a glass of water? Or a bath? Food? He didn’t really know. What reason would Felix have for disappearing all of a sudden in the middle of the night anyway? Chan ran out the room calling out, “Felix?!” 

It was the only thing Chan could think of doing. If Felix was nearby he would surely answer, right? 

He waited. One second turned to two, two turned to four and after a whole minute passed without any sign of an answer, Chan started to panic as he ran all over the place.

Chan had swiftly gone to check all the rooms and yet Felix was still nowhere to be found. He rushed to return to Felix's room looking for clues as to where the teen might be. In his state of panic, he had forgotten about his heightened sense of smell. 

**_“Oh my goodness, I’m such an idiot.”_ **

He could smell his scent, it was still fresh, and his traces lead to the window, which was open ajar, the wind blowing, causing the curtains to flow with it. 

**_“No.”_ **

Chan immediately jumped out the window. It was very late into the night being around 1 am and it was unlikely for any man to be loitering around, but very likely for a ghoul to be.

Unfortunately, Felix was a newly turned ghoul. A half ghoul at that. His scent was very unique, and any ghoul within a two mile radius would probably get attracted by his scent. He was practically a walking beacon for trouble.

Chan just hoped nothing bad would happen before he caught up to him.

~*~*~*~*~

Felix had been running for over half an hour. He neither cared, nor bothered to think about what would happen later on, he just ran. He hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings and had no idea where he was nor where he was heading. When he finally started to look up and pay attention to his surroundings, he found himself in a very unfamiliar place. 

Then again, any place in Korea would be unfamiliar. He had just arrived here a few days ago after all and even then he had barely walked around for a few hours before he had gotten kidnapped. That too was done in the dark of the night. 

Not that it was any different from his current situation.

Eventually he started to break down, he collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down whispered to himself, “What am I supposed to do now?”

He stayed there crying for what felt like an eternity. He was all alone. What was he expecting anyway? For a random person to show up and save the day? Heroes aren’t real. They only existed in stories.

“Hello there. Are you lost?” a voice called out.

Felix looked to the side to see a male no older than him, an innocent look on his face. The stranger was wearing a plain white hoodie and a light blue denim jacket, he looked young. Like he was still in highschool. Felix questioned why someone his age would be out at such an unholy time but pushed it to the back of his mind.

“Y-yeah. I’m actually new around here” Felix said, sniffling.

“Let me help you. I’ll show you the way out of here.” The kind individual said softly, smiling welcomingly.

Felix, feeling extremely helpless, was grateful that a person like him showed up and it was a relief to finally interact with an actual person, after all this time. 

_Or so he thought_. 

The two walked for a few minutes until they reached a dark alleyway with the other side being a dead end. 

“What th-”

“Sorry. I couldn’t just let my friend starve you know.” the male said as the friendly smile turned sadistic. Before Felix could think any further, someone else had dropped down in front of him, blocking the only way out. 

The man had golden brown hair with dark brown roots. He had a black windbreaker styled trench coat, with black trousers and black shoes with white soles.

Much like any other ghoul, the man used a mask to hide his identity. The mask was terrifying. It has a big slit down the middle of the head, kept together by red stitches. 

The lower half had sharp teeth placed in such a way it formed a gruesome grin, two screw-like objects were placed at the edge of the 'mouth'. The eyes were basketed in a diamond shape. Like a clown.

The man was intimidating to say the least. His two bloodthirsty red eyes glaring straight into Felix's. The dark black that surrounds the two blood red irises reminded him of an abyss. He could feel a ravaging beast, or rather a _hunger_ radiating off in waves.

"What do you want from me?" Felix questioned, frightened out of his mind.

"Nothing much." The innocent-looking teenager replied, standing at the side with a maniac, delirious smirk on his face.

"Just your flesh." The ghoul said. Felix was unsure if it was just his imagination but he swore he saw the mask's grin widen.

He shuddered and said, "W-why me?"

The masked ghoul broke out into a hysterical laugh while saying,"What makes you think I'm gonna tell you that, huh?"

The man continued to laugh even after he replied, finding Felix's fear extremely funny. When he finally stopped, he looked at Felix and said, "Alright, I'll satisfy your curiosity."

The ghoul approached Felix, now face to face mere inches away. He breathed in.

_"Your scent.”_

“It’s… tempting to say the least."

Felix's eyes widened. At this point, he didn't know whether it was from his seemingly never ending fear or surprise. He slowly backed away from the man.

The man just laughed and reached his hands out. However, just as he was about to grab hold of Felix, a new figure appeared from the end of the alley. 

_"Stop."_ The figure said with an anger so deep, he basically growled.

The figure approached them quickly. When the man stepped out of the shadows, tears started to form in Felix's eyes. 

"C-chan." 

Internally, Chan's heart broke hearing how broken Felix's voice was. Yet, he made no move to reply to the teen. Gaze set straight and the masked ghoul he opened his mouth and said, "The Marionette. S class ghoul."

"Ah! You know me? That means you must be… a ghoul? No wait. An investigator? Yes! That's it. You're an investigator." The masked ghoul said, pointing at the silver briefcase that the white-haired male had in his hand.

 _'Investigator?'_ Felix thought, for he was confused why Chan, _a ghoul_ , was working for CCG, a place that _kills ghouls._

Chan's gaze hardened. "I remember you. You were on the news once. First Class Investigator Bang Chan wasn't it?" The man continued. 

"What's with the white hair though? Could've sworn you had black hair." The man replied tilting his head, questioning Chan mockingly.

"Felix." Chan said with a firm voice, eyes still focused on the 'marionette'.

 _"Run."_

Chan lunged at the ghoul. The ghoul immediately brought out his kagune, the two all too familiar blood red projections appeared. 

It seemed that The Marionette was far from an easy opponent, however, as he didn’t get baited. Chuckling, the ghoul mocked the two, “Do you think I’m that stupid?”

Almost instantly, the limbs shifted directions, rushing past Chan, clearly aiming at the blonde who was standing behind him. Felix, stunned, was slow to react but moved anyway which allowed for one of the limbs to graze his cheek - much too close to the teen for Chan's liking.

The white-haired investigator immediately abandoned his initial attack and quickly ran to block the next hit. Chan knew that due to the sudden shift in stance that he had to make to accommodate his actions, he wouldn't be able to gain the stable footing he needed to block the hit properly. 

Not caving under pressure, he chose the next best thing.

He pulled his briefcase in between his body and the red limb, the case taking most of the brunt force. The strength behind the blow was overwhelming, causing his grip on the handle of the briefcase to loosen, subsequently, sending it flying far away.

‘Shit!’ Looking around for anything that could help him, Chan noticed that The Marionette’s ‘partner’ was just standing at the side. 

‘It’s risky,’ He thought, ‘But what other choice do we have!’

“Felix!” Chan screamed, breaking the younger out of his fear induced daze. He harshly whipped his head towards the alley’s exit, hoping to get the message across. The younger seemed hesitant for a moment but had started to run as soon as Chan had ushered him once more, “Go!”

Of course, their opponent didn’t take this lightly, nearly growling - showing his apparent displeasure. 

**_"I.N."_ **The man quipped, determined not to let his prey go. 

The innocent-looking teen immediately nodded in tacit understanding, bringing the suitcase that was sprawled across the ground with him as he chased after Felix. 

Seeing this, Chan moved to try to stop the teen from leaving the alley but failed, the ghoul jumping in front of him. Still, he completely ignored the ghoul, not caring about whether or not he would get injured. Right now, his worry for the young blonde teen overthrew his own survival instincts.

‘No!’

He tried to chase after the teen but was blocked.

‘Goddamnit!’

He relentlessly pushed on, trying his best to rush past the ghoul.This had irritated his adversary, causing the ghoul to have an additional two tentacles to appear from his back. With the addition of the two extra limbs, Chan struggled, causing the ghoul to cackle sinisterly and say, “Where the hell do you think you're going? _Your opponent is me._ ”  
  



	7. Home

Felix huffs continuously as he runs as swift as possible, from time to time stumbling over something, be it a rock, or a bump in the road. 

He pants as he swiftly runs down the street and turns a corner, hoping his pursuer would lose track of him. He turns his head back and sees the young teen in white, still on his tail. Gradually catching up as well - the moonlight glinting off of Chan’s aluminium briefcase gave his position away. 

The head start Chan gave him was slowly shrinking as they ran through the streets. ‘I have to find help quickly.’ Felix thought. What else could he do anyway? He turned another corner.

“Stop!” The teenager shouted.

Felix couldn’t help but think the teen was rather stupid. Who in their right mind would give themselves up to be eaten by a ghoul? He certainly wouldn’t. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

He had no idea how long he had been running but for Chan’s sake, he hoped it hadn’t been long. 

The teen was getting closer every time Felix would look back. Without thinking much further, he decided to turn around and fight the teen head on. He was a trained martial artist after all and although he hadn’t gone very far up the rank before he left, he had some confidence in his capabilities. 

Using the element of surprise to his advantage, he quickly got into the necessary stance. He brought his leg up to the side and snapped his leg forward, pivoting his other foot. A roundhouse kick - a rather simple move. However it was one that could effectively stall his enemy. 

Unfortunately for Felix though, the teen was able to avoid the kick. 

It seems the tables have been flipped as now, Felix was the one to get surprised. The teen seeing Felix’s trained stance, threw the briefcase he had in his hand away as he quickly fell into his own. They stared at one another, both looking for any openings that they could exploit.

Felix, being confident due to the teen’s lanky figure, charged forward carelessly. The teen remained calm, unbothered. As soon as Felix was about to hit the teen, he moved to the side and threw a punch of his own. Felix however, having been in a few fights before, knew of his own weaknesses and had anticipated such a move. 

The two males continued to clash as the fight continued, Felix getting weaker and weaker. He hadn’t gotten the chance to either eat or rest since his arrival in South Korea and it was taking a severe toll on his stamina. 

His focus had started to wane as well. During the split second that his concentration faltered, the teen quickly tried to land a punch. Felix, unable to dodge, took the hit straight to his side. This caused him to lose his balance and as a result he fell down to the ground, face first.

The teen approached Felix who was sprawled out on the ground, holding his throbbing side. It was a hard blow. “Well, that was easier than anticipated.” said the teen who was evidently overtaxed as he kicked Felix. 

Pressing Felix’s head down with his foot, the teen crouched down and scanned Felix’s figure. Felix felt like he was about to pass out, adrenaline quickly fading now that he couldn’t move. The teen who sneered, seeing the tears building up in the corner Felix’s eyes said, “You don’t seem any different in comparison to other people I’ve encountered. Wonder why he’s so interested in you?"

As the teen was about to pick up Felix, he suddenly felt something approaching him from behind. Before he could react, he felt a harsh jab at the back of his neck. The teen immediately lost consciousness and came crashing down onto the concrete road. 

Felix, who had just subconsciously used his kagune to knock the teen out, panicked. 'Oh my god! Is he dead? Did I just kill him?'

Horrified by this thought, he quickly tried to get up from the ground and in doing so jostled the body on top of him, causing the teen's nose to bury itself at the crook of his neck. Shivering at the sudden contact, he screeched in shock and he pushed the young teen's limp body, or rather cold corpse if the half-ghoul's thoughts were right, off of his body.

Breathing heavily, he groaned at the pain racking through his body. Taking a moment to calm his breath he gazed into the dark sky above him, closing his eyes as exhaustion took over. Slowly, sounds of chatter started to fill his ear. He turned to look at the source of the sounds, in the direction he was originally running to, he saw a faint light, fading into the dark alley. 

Talking. Chatter. Footsteps. People. 

It was probably a crowded street. He was safe. He could run. He could leave behind this life that he had been thrusted into. Leave behind the entire ghoul business. Leave behind his terrors. This was his chance.

Propping his elbows against the ground, he tried to haul himself up; only to fail miserably as he winced at the throbbing of his wounds. Stubborn, he kept trying to get up despite the constant pulsing of his wounds, almost desperate in his actions.

Reaching his hand out to the light, he suddenly froze, his hand still in its position in the air.

‘But...’

He looked back at the dark alley behind him, the knocked-out teen, the silver briefcase that laid on the cold gravel path. Clenching his extended hand, he steeled himself.

Knowing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with standing up on his own, he extended his hands in front of him and pulled, propelling him forward - crawling - at what slow pace he could barely manage. Slowly but surely, inch by inch, he approached the briefcase.

Firmly gripping onto it, he backed himself against the nearest wall. Counting to three, he exclaimed in pain as he strained himself, using what little strength he could muster to force his worn body off of the ground. 

Leaning against the wall for support, he slowly limped forward.

His body was weak and his knees buckled causing him to fall, ripping the fabric around his joints. He got up. Despite falling down every time his body decided to give up on him, he got up again, and again, and again. Even when his knees and elbows bled, he pushed forward, single thought in mind,

_‘Chan. I have to get to Chan.’_

~*~*~*~*~

Chan, despite being sufficiently proficient in combat, was having a hard time fighting the marionette. The ghoul was a powerful S class ghoul after all and while Chan himself was a powerful ghoul, he couldn’t make use of his kagune. The ghoul was aware of his identity as CCG investigator.

Furthermore, if anyone were to pass by, he would be exposed. The situation was bad. His life was at risk, yet no matter what, he couldn’t make use of his full capabilities. He was sure he could defeat the ghoul in a one to one confrontation, however he couldn’t be sure if he could prevent the ghoul from fleeing and if the ghoul succeeds in doing so after he reveals his true nature, it could spell the end of everything he had worked so hard to build thus far. 

Chan couldn’t fight with his fist either because it would display his inhumane strength. Due to this he’s forced into evading all the attacks without being able to retaliate, which frustrated him. The fact was though that if Chan didn’t figure something out soon, he would lose. However, he would rather die taking his identity as a ghoul with him, rather than bringing his involvement in both parties to light.

The masked ghoul was also starting to get annoyed. The ‘First Class Investigator’ had interrupted his hunt and chased his prey away. It didn’t help that the man was stronger than he thought, effectively delaying him from eating his food.

“Are you sure you’re a First Class? You’re pretty good. Even better than some of those Associate Class geezers. Not to mention, as one without your beloved _quinque_. I’m impressed.” the Marionette said, not even bothering to mask his annoyance.

Chan’s frustration was growing by the second, fatigue spreading through his body. It was taxing both mentally and physically. Not only did he have to keep dodging but he also had to control his emotions, else his kagune would make an undesirable appearance.

Just as he was about to lose control over his ever growing emotions of frustration and anger he heard someone call him from the alley’s entrance, prompting both of the men to look towards the voice. 

“Chan!” Felix yelled, as he held his seemingly frail figure up against the wall, unable to stand without the support. 

Chan rapidly jumped backwards, evading the ghoul’s attempts to hit him and stood with his back against the younger. He evaded the following attacks, all the while making sure the younger was kept safe. 

The Marionette laughed boisterously and pointed at Felix’s direction as he began to talk, “My, my. What a stupid human indeed. Not only does he run but he decides to come running right back and become a burden as well.” 

The masked ghoul wasn’t idle, continuously throwing out blows towards Chan, not forgetting to mix in a few that were aimed at the blonde teen behind the male. Chan, of course, had also acted accordingly and quickly deflected every blow had aimed at the blonde with his bare arms. 

While Chan was seemingly doing it easily, sadly, the reality was that his arms were gradually starting to bruise - the brute force behind a ghoul’s kagune wasn’t to be underestimated after all. Frustrated having blown up at the sudden turn of events he couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Felix, angrily yelling, “What are you doing here?! I thought I told you to run?!”

The blonde offered a small grin as he moved his hand in front of him, showing the white-haired investigator a very familiar silver briefcase, “I came to help.”

Felix threw the case at Chan, the older catching jumping back to catch it.

As soon as he caught it, the older male smirked at the ghoul. Pressing the button located on the lower side of the cases’ handle, it burst open revealing his quinque. 

The quinque took the form of a large and rather bulky dark red sword that was divided into five segments of 10 centimetres each. On the blunt side, laid pitch black orbs in the middle of each segment. The long rod-like sword’s handle was wrapped in a dark grey cloth, being just about 30 centimeters in length.

The Marionette, seeing Chan get his quinque, grew agitated and started to frantically increase the speed of his attacks. Not needing to hold back anymore Chan swung at the ghoul with practiced ease, using his quinque, the sword immediately breaking into segments, swerving towards the ghoul in a snake-like motion with mere red strings connecting the segments and although the red strings appeared to be metal, its flexibility proved that it was also likely made of a ghoul’s kakuhou.

The ghoul managed to catch one of the incoming sword segments with his kagune, effectively disrupting the other segments. However the force behind the swing had caused the ghoul to skid backwards, ultimately causing him to release his hold on the weapon as well. Chan swung his weapon upwards as he pressed a button hidden on the handle, reverting his weapon into a bulky sword.

Enraged at the situation the ghoul yelled, “He’s mine!”

“He is _not.”_ Chan said, his voice eerily calm.

“Where do you think you're going? Your opponent is me.” Chan said mockingly, citing word for word what the ghoul had said to him.

The fight continued between the two. Now with his quinque, Chan disregarded all defensive measures, choosing to go on full offense. He couldn’t win if he didn’t. Especially not with his dwindling stamina. The masked ghoul predictably did not like it one bit. 

As they continued to fight, the Marionette realized that the teen wasn’t here. Where was he? What happened? There was no way he left. The teen wouldn’t abandon him, not after everything they’ve been through together. This was something he didn’t doubt. 

Something must’ve happened to the teen and that considering the fact that his prey’s friend had showed up along with the prey himself. The marionette stiffened in concern, his face bearing an anxious expression. 

Neither Chan or Felix noticed though, the expression hidden behind the ghoul’s mask. For the sake of his human companion, he made one last hit towards Chan with one of his limbs. Successfully hitting the man and buying time, the ghoul propelled his body upward into the air using his kagune, landing on the roof of the building beside them. Not looking back, the ghoul ran away, blending into the dark shadows.

“Oi!” exclaimed Chan who had used his staff to push himself up onto the roof in efforts to pursue the ghoul. He noticed that the ghoul was trying to escape and was about to chase after the ghoul before he was reminded of the teen who was currently sitting against a wall, clutching onto his sides. 

Turning back and seeing the younger’s condition, Chan decided it was best to leave the ghoul alone for now and headed back down to the alley. 

“He’s gone?” Felix asked

“Yeah, but that’s not our biggest concern. What’s more important is that we get you to safety.” Chan answered as he scanned Felix’s body for any injuries. He sighed in relief when he saw that the teen only had a few bruises and cuts. Reassured, Chan moved to raise his head only to lock eyes with Felix. 

Chan softly smiled and proceeded to put his arms under the younger’s knees and back, lifting him up in a bridal carry. The teen seemed conflicted but soon broke out into a small smile, nodding at the older’s next words, “Let’s go home.”

~*~*~*~*~

The two finally arrived in front of a building that Felix assumed to be Chan’s home. Now that he paid attention to the surroundings, he’d noticed a lot of things such as how the bottom half of the older male’s home seemed to be a cafe, judging from the gigantic glass panels with a logo of a coffee cup that had wings that came out from the sides of it, and the words that read ‘Young Wings’ were visible on the outer face of the body of the coffee cup.

As they entered, Felix looked around curiously as he took in every detail of the little cafe he was brought to by the two ghouls. He could smell the ground coffee beans. Dozens of square shaped tables made out of finely lumbered spruce wood, metal chairs coated with black neatly placed in their allocated places.

Passing through the door to the far left of the wall behind the counter, he was surprised to see a rather long hallway. There were three doors in the hallway one straight ahead one to his right and the other being the one they had just passed through. 

When they had finally gone through the door at the other end of the corridor, Felix’s stomach growled loudly, making Chan turn his head to look at him. Felix quickly covered his face with his hand in embarrassment, ears turning red as the older set him down on the couch, allowing him to get comfortable.

“You must be really hungry. Let me get you something.” Chan said as he left him in a room that looked to be a living room. It seemed to be a cozy living space. It had two brown sofas and a nice coffee table, a bunch of books littered on it, matching the wooden spruce tables downstairs, as well as a cream colored rug that was underneath the two sofas. Followed by a small table that was placed near the couch. 

The older male returned, holding something a bit weird looking in his hand with a large grin on his face. Felix’s eyes widened at the thing Chan held in his hand.

_A leg. A real human leg._

The smell of blood was strong. The sudden assault on his sense of smell as well as the gruesome sight made Felix immediately cover his mouth in disgust, feeling very sick. His hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it quickly picked up a particularly thick book from the coffee table, sending it flying through the air.

A resounding smack was heard as the book hit the Chan’s head. 

The impact the book made was so hard that it had caused Chan to accidentally drop the leg. However, he made no move to pick it up as he was preoccupied with rubbing the back of his head, trying to ease the lingering pain.

Confused, he looked up to see the cause of the sudden appearance of a projectile. Almost immediately he froze. Felix was cowering into the couch, breath unsteady, face pale, knees tucked against his body, trembling.

Guilt plagued the older’s body and he couldn’t help but scold himself, ‘Chan, you idiot! He was human. Of course he’s going to react badly to blood or flesh.’

Not really knowing what to do in this situation, he fidgeted in place for a few moments before finally deciding to approach the younger. He placed his hand on the top of the fluffy blonde hair, petting it. Feeling the younger tense up underneath his palm, he flinched and tried to retract his hand but before he could, the younger held onto it - tightly clasping it in between his own hands.

Chan’s eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around the younger, joining him on the couch. Minutes passed as the white-haired male whispered apologies, petting the blonde’s head, rubbing his shoulders. The younger said nothing, simply burying his nose in the crook of the older’s neck, slowly calming down. 

They laid in a comfortable silence for a while, the blonde having shifted to straddle the older, sitting on his lap with legs on either side of the male, head resting against the male’s shoulder. The older didn’t say anything, silently petting the younger’s head with one hand, the other wrapping around the younger’s waist as they cuddled.

As the night soon bled into day, he looked at the leg that lay on the floor and back at the blonde in his arms, Chan softly asked whether he still wanted to eat, rubbing the younger’s back.

“I do but...”

“I-I don’t think I can eat um.. f-flesh.” The younger replied.

Chan hummed at that, thinking for a moment, before asking, “How about coffee?” 

“Coffee?” Felix asked, head tilted to the side in confusion.

“Oh right, you don’t know!” 

“This may come as a surprise but we ghouls are actually able to drink coffee despite being unable to consume virtually any other human food.” explained Chan.

The silence soon became unbearable and Chan turned to look at Felix, opening his mouth to try once more only to see Felix looking at him as well. Felix looked extremely conflicted and upon locking eyes the teen immediately looked to the side, trying to avoid looking at him. 

Chan felt slightly hurt at the action and closed his mouth, silently wondering if he had done something wrong. Was he annoyed? Does he hate me? Was it the leg? 

He didn't mean it, he was just a bit caught up at the mention of eating that he didn't think twice before going to the storage room and grabbing the first thing that came into his sight, which happened to be the very leg that was still lying on the ground next to him.

However, Chan had never been the type to just let a problem fester for long and so he gathered his courage to try and talk once more.

“Hey, uh.. Felix. I-”

“I’m really sorry for running away and causing trouble for you. It's all my fault. You could have gotten hurt. But I.. I just- so many things were going through my head.” Felix suddenly burst out, cutting Chan off.

“What? That's what you're worried about? It’s fine. It’s not like I don’t often have work at night and I don't actually sleep that much to begin with so don’t worry about it.” 

They fell into silence yet again, finding comfort in one another.

“I’d like that coffee now.” Felix said, breaking the silence.

Chan nodded in response, a small smile gracing his lips.

After the younger had climbed off of him, he went to the kitchen and out, bringing two cups including a pot with steam rising from its spout, which Felix presumed to contain the coffee that the older had supposedly made for the both of them and a jar filled to the brim with brown sugar cubes.

Felix watched silently as the white-haired male set up a cup for each of them. He poured the warm coffee and added two of the sugar cubes into each cup before stirring the coffee.

The blonde had found it strange to put the sugar cubes into the coffee but didn't really question it. If the only thing ghouls could eat other than human flesh was coffee, then surely they would have experience making it. Furthermore, he owned a cafe so at least he knew how to make a simple cup of coffee - even if it wasn’t good. Probably… 

Felix wasn’t sure if the cafe was open to humans but since it wasn't exactly located in a remote area, he figured that it most likely was. Considering the size of the cafe, it should actually be a pretty damn good cup of coffee.

Chan took one of the cups for himself and sat down next to Felix, taking a sip of the warm coffee. The older male gestured at Felix to help himself, though not before adding a couple of extra sugar cubes to his own cup.

The younger, understandably, was a bit hesitant. He didn't hate coffee but he wasn’t a big fan of it either. Normally, he wouldn't choose to drink it willingly. Felix was just so hungry and he didn't really understand how the coffee was supposed to help with his hunger. Maybe the sugar will help? 

He stared at the cup with a genuinely confused and intrigued look. Well he'll just have to find out. Without waiting any longer, he took it and drank. 

He quickly realized that the coffee was actually really good and sweet. He surprisingly liked it a lot. He finished the coffee and decided to take more from the pot, seeing that nothing strange happened to his body after drinking it. He also felt his hunger going away somewhat although slightly.

He really didn't mind. Any alternative is better than eating flesh.

Refilling his cup, he took a sip only to flinch at the bitter taste in shock. “Huh, it’s not as tasty...” Felix trailed off, wondering why the taste of the coffee had such a drastic change in flavour before realizing that the sugar caves had dissipated entirely into the coffee. He reached his hand out aiming for more brown sugar cubes in the jar but stopped to look at Chan, seemingly asking for his permission. 

The white-haired male, who had been looking at Felix the entire time smiled and gave him a nod to continue. After putting a cube, he took another chug and once again the coffee tasted just as great as the first cup. So he kept on refilling his cup and adding more sugar cubes. 

The number of sugar cubes he put into each cup slowly increased. But as Chan made no indication of trying to stop him, he just carried on. 

Chan stared at the teen who was savoring his coffee. His eyes were lit up in joy and his smile was the brightest he’s ever seen. Not wanting to put him off with the truth, he shook his head and whispered under his breath, “It’s fine. I’ll tell him one day.”

~*~*~*~*~

On the rooftop of a building approximately 30 blocks away from the two ghouls, marionette was frantically looking through the neighbourhood, desperately trying to search for his human friend. Jumping from building to building, the ghoul's anxiety grew by the second. 

He continued to search for a long time and would have missed the teen if not for the teen's white shirt. The teen's body was sprawled out on the ground, hidden by the shadows. The teen didn't seem to have moved even an inch since he was most likely knocked out. This had sent the ghoul into a flurry of panic, causing the ghoul to anxiously call out, “Jeongin!” 

He quickly jumped down, approaching the unconscious human, or now Jeongin, who didn’t respond to his call. Picking him up, he tried looking for a pulse. Feeling an ever present yet slightly weak throb from his friend’s wrist, the ghoul sighed in relief.

The teen hadn't sustained any major injuries. Still worried however, the ghoul carried Jeongin on his back. As he made his way to their 'home'. 

Crouching down to unlock a rusty padlock at the bottom of the rusted iron pull down shutters, the ghoul pulled open the shutter to reveal an auspicious pathway into a dark space. The pathway surprisingly had yet to be kept out of bounds, despite the possible dangers it posed to anyone who was walking by. 

The marionette relocked the shutters behind him and carried the teen down some stairs which were covered in layers of dust, dirt and moss due to the lack of upkeep. The stairs led to what seemed to be an underground station. 

It had been abandoned long ago, judging from the torn banners, random flyers and newspapers lying all over the place, as well as the overall state of the location. It wasn’t much different with the staircase that led to the place, only lacking moss as the area was too deep underground to allow the growth of plant life. 

Many of the stalls were emptied out, leaving behind a mere casket of what it had once been. Some even still had the metal shutters shut tightly. The passage was dark with only a few sources of light from the small dim fairy lights that followed along the path. 

Further down to the right of the passage was another staircase. The staircase led to a closed off platform deep underneath the ground. This level had seemed different to the upper one with the area having better lighting and clean of any dust and dirt. There were two carts on each side of the platform and while the four carts were heavily rusted on the outside, the interior had been modified.

One of the carriages had a bed complete with blankets and pillows. Makeshift shelves filled with books surrounding the said bed. Curtains draped over the cart window and the entryway to each cart from the inside. None of the carts had doors presumably due to it not functioning if there was a lack of electricity to power the cart.

The cart connected to the bathroom was modified into a bathroom. The two carts across the platform had also been modified one into a kitchen and the other into a storage room filled with clothes and food items.

In the far off corner of the platform, a few wooden crates could be seen, one of them being barely filled with any limbs and organs that seemed to have been ravenously ripped from their insides and the others only had splotches of crimson coating the rims and inner portion of the said crates. 

The marionette laid the teen down on the bed. The ghoul then took off his terrifying mask to show an expression that contrasted the mask drastically. He put the mask on top of the wooden shelf. He rushed to their storage room, grabbed a medical kit and rushed back to the teen. He started to treat the teen’s wounds carefully so as to not further aggravate any of the injuries. As the ghoul was treating the teen, his eyes slowly opened. 

The ghoul realized that the teen had regained his consciousness. Busy treating the teen’s wounds the ghoul only said a few words, “Stay still, I’m treating your wounds.” 

As the teen was getting treated he recalled what happened. He felt horrible for failing and looked away, unable to face the ghoul. 

After a few minutes of silence the teen apologised in a small voice, although gaze still not meeting the older’s, “I’m sorry for failing you, Seungmin-hyung.”

Seungmin could see how upset the teen was and a concerned expression formed on his face. The guilty look on the younger’s face immediately faded away when the older reached his arm out and patted the teen’s head. Seeing the teen relaxing, the older’s concerned appearance near instantly changed to one with a soft and forgiving smile.

“It’s ok, Jeongin-ah. I know you tried your best.” the ghoul reassured.

“Besides, I’ll get my revenge one day.” Seungmin said with a dark look on his face.

Jeongin nodded, determined to do his best to follow his elder’s wishes.


	8. Cheesecake

Felix woke up to the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon rolls and the fresh smell of vanilla and chocolate that came from the kitchen. He would have liked it if he were human, but sadly he wasn’t one anymore. Chan had taken him in for a couple days, training him little by little to withstand the smell that would otherwise trigger a puking reflex.

They were in a cafe, surrounded with _‘human food’,_ his sense of smell was something that Felix had to learn how to control if he wanted to survive in the new environment that Chan’s lifestyle had forcefully brought upon him.

He followed the _fresh_ scent, all the way down the staircase, through the house to the corridor that led to the cafe in front. Instead of going to the cafe, he walked through the door to his left.

Amazingly Felix had done all this - walking down the stairs, opening doors, etc - while being half asleep. His eyes squinted so much that one couldn't actually see them. It was a wonder how he managed to navigate through the place without falling down or tripping. Perhaps he had grown accustomed to it. After all, despite having stayed here a mere 2 days, the cafe, or rather the household, had quickly become his home, no matter how unrealistic it may seem to him.

"Morning Lix." 

"Mmm." Felix replied, still dazed as he had just woken up. 

Finding the teen to be cute, especially with his bed head, Chan rubbed the boy's head. Felix seemed to enjoy this action, rubbing his head into Chan's palm. The action was incredibly endearing and reminded the older male of a cat.

Once he was fully awake, Felix looked up to the older male and was left dumbfounded. Chan’s hair was no longer his usual eye-catching, unnatural white hair and was instead a boring, regular black. Felix wanted to ask about it but decided to keep the question to himself, not wanting to be a bother.

He once again looked around the kitchen in awe. No matter how many hours he spent each morning watching Chan weave his way through the kitchen, it still left him speechless and unfathomable.

It wasn’t that the male was cooking. Far from it.

The older male was just unpacking the food stock that had arrived that morning from what the younger had assumed to be the male’s supplier. Despite the older not doing much, it didn’t take away the fact that the male was elegant in his actions. How could someone look graceful and elegant doing such a menial task?

He would never know.

Looking at the large variety of pastries that were laid out on the table in front of him, Felix's mouth started to water. The pastries looked unbelievably appetizing; it tempted Felix to take a bite. While he knew ghouls were unable to eat any human food, Chan having reminded him nearly every time he could, Felix still felt some apprehension.

He was technically half ghoul so shouldn't he be able to eat human food. If not all maybe a slightly wider variety than pure blooded ghouls? The fact that he hadn’t consumed anything besides coffee didn’t help either. 

The pastry tempted him more and more, with each passing second and yet he was still a bit hesitant. Maybe he shouldn't. ‘Hyung must have a good reason why he didn’t allow me to eat human food right? I should listen to him.’

‘But... this could be my only chance. Chan hyung is busy and won't stop me.’ Felix thought, fighting with himself.

Unfortunately, Felix didn’t last long in the fight against himself and eventually fell into the temptation. He even started to encourage himself with thoughts like 'Just one bite.', 'Chan Hyung doesn't have to know.', 'I'll just keep it a secret.' and other such thoughts. With those thoughts in mind, he sneakily took one of the pastries on the tray and took a bite. 

Nothing could have prepared him for this. He spit it out the pastry not even a second later and the speed at which he had done the action caused him to break into a fit of coughs as he choked on a bit of the pastry.

Chan, upon noticing the boy coughing heavily, stopped whatever he was doing and immediately came to his side and patted his back in comfort and worry. 

‘What happened?’ the older male wondered. 

He had let go of his watch on the boy for ten minutes and something bad had already happened. ‘Leave it to me to bring home a troublesome child from the streets.’ Chan thought, smiling sheepishly at the thought.

Felix soon stopped coughing, the chunks finally dislodged but had instead started to wretch, the after taste left behind prompting his revulsion. He didn’t think that it would be this bad. He couldn’t even begin to properly describe the taste of the pastry - he couldn’t think of any word that was able to accurately express just how horrible and vile the taste was.

_‘Disgusting.’_

Chan handed Felix a metal pot, hoping the boy could understand what he was implying and proceeded to look around to try and figure out what had happened. Seeing the half eaten pastry on the ground, Chan quickly put two and two together and realised what Felix had done. He merely sighed in exasperation and after calming the boy down, he looked at Felix with a stern expression.

“There is a reason for everything I tell you not to do. I’m your hyung. I’ve been a ghoul for much longer than you. Don’t do this again.” Chan scolded rather harshly, although his tone didn't seem all that stern or angry - more exasperated if nothing else.

Chan pitied Felix. Every ghoul, half or not would have had to experience this anyway. He realised that he had never actually went into detail about the experience of eating human food, only telling Felix that ghouls couldn’t digest it properly. 

He had also failed to relay to Felix that he knew very well what it's like to be half ghoul. Probably better than most. Chan was sure Felix thought that the fact that he was only half ghoul would make him different from other ghouls. After what he’s been through, Chan knew otherwise. While there are some differences in scent, nothing much else was different, to add that the difference in scent would only entice other wandering ghouls to be a potential target for cannibalism.

Chan realised that he shouldn’t have gotten so carried away and scold the blonde just because he was worried. ‘Don’t be so hard on him. He’s all new to this. You know what it’s like.’ 

Facing Felix, he looked at the boy with pleading eyes that reminded one of a kicked puppy, “I’m sorry for scolding you.”

“No, no. You don’t have to be sorry, hyung.”

“I should’ve listened.” the blonde replied, shaking his head.

Chan smiled, “I understand that this is very hard for you, but please listen to me next time.”

Felix nodded, still holding his mouth closed in disgust. Chan, still worried about the boy, went to the kitchen’s counter to grab a cup from one of the cabinets. “Water or coffee?” he asked, looking at Felix. “Coffee, please. Oh! With extra sugar cubes.” Felix said timidly before his eyes started to sparkle at the memory of the sugar cubes. 

Chan rolled his eyes but made sure to add a lot of ‘sugar cubes’ into the cup and handed it to Felix afterwards. The boy threw the empty metal pot out of his hands and reached for the cup, holding it careful not to spill any of the coffee.

“You know, you can’t always drink coffee with an excessive amount of sugar cubes.” said Chan to Felix as the older male picked up the abandoned pot and placed it on an empty spot on the table. The said boy looked back and forth between the cup he was holding and Chan before finally locking gazes with him, tears forming at the corner of his eyes.

Chan, who saw the man start panicking at the boy’s teary eyes and just patted Felix’s shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~

After chugging down three cups of coffee that was actually more _sugar_ than actual coffee, the horrible after-taste finally dissipated. Chan seeing that the boy had finished suggested Felix to go and take a shower while he finishes baking all of the pastries. The boy nodded in agreement knowing he looked like a mess.

After showing Felix the way to the bathroom, Chan went back to the kitchen, having decided to have breakfast. He figured that Felix would appreciate it, if he didn’t eat in front of the younger. Quickly before Felix came back, he ate as much as he could, basically wolfing it all down and cleaned up afterwards.

By the time, Felix came back wearing clothes that were a bit of a big fit on him - he had realized that he should remind Chan to buy him clothes since his were lost along with his suitcase - Chan was already dressed up and ready for work.

Chan was wearing something very different compared to what he usually wore. Gone were the all-black outfits that seemed to be the only thing the older owned. He wore a dark grey dress shirt, the top unbuttoned, and a long, beige coat that reached his knees. On one hand, he was carrying a silver suitcase, the same one he had struggled to get to Chan on the night he ran away. 

‘He must be going to work.’ Felix thought recalling Chan’s apparent job as an investigator.

“So, I don’t actually run the cafe. I just own it. Now that you’re more accustomed with the entire ghoul thing, I hope I can trust you not to go ballistic on one of my employees. I would stay but CCG called me in for work.” Chan said as he grabbed his things.

“I’m sorry to leave you without introducing you to anyo-”

Suddenly, there was a series of rapid knocks from the back door - which Felix had learnt the house had the day before. 

“Well, never mind then. Seems like I will get to introduce you to someone after all.” Chan said heading towards the door.

Felix stayed in the living room, nerves building up as he waited for the older male to come back. He sat silently on the couch, listening in to Chan as he exchanged greetings with the person at the door. The stranger's voice was silvery and modulated, and it made the blonde question what the man looked like.

Soon enough Chan and the ‘stranger’ made their way to the living room.

A man with hair a dyed shade of ebony, with a silver dyed portion of his left front hair-parting, had radiating big eyes and smiley cheeks, with a tall body proportion. He had a pleased look on his face as he smiled enough for his eyes to disappear, as he let out an expression of curiosity as he saw Chan with an unfamiliar face.

“Oh! who’s this?” the male asked with excitement as he looked at Felix with his ever radiating bright eyes as he noticed the blonde teen.

“This is Felix! He’s been living with me since recently.” Chan replied as he introduced the two.

Felix bowed in greeting, giving a small smile as he hesitantly waved.

“Name’s Choi San,.. San Choi,.. Sannie,.. Sanjook.. Wow I have a lot of names, just San is fine though, but feel free to call me whatever you like!.”

“Right uhm… So I have to go now.” Chan said as he noticed Felix slowly pale, to calm the younger down, he smiled at him and grabbed his hand, rubbing the back of it in reassurance as he opened his arms for Felix to hug, as Chan closed him in, holding the back of his head as he gives him a light peck on his forehead. “I’m off, behave well okay?” Chan said as he heard Felix hum.

Watching the older walk out the door, Felix suddenly realised where Chan had head off to, and had wondered why, however by then, it was much too late to ask, for the door had already been shut.

San, looking at the intrigued Felix, slowly approached him. “Wondering how Chan can be both a ghoul and investigator, am I right?” Felix tilted his head, wondering how the older male was able to guess his thoughts, but proceeded to nod anyway. 

“No one really knows. Most of us just assume Chan is… special. In simple terms, he has the ability to enter the CCG building without getting detected. Of course this makes Chan the perfect person to gather any information that could prove to be useful from CCG under the guise of working as an investigator.” San explained.

“Although the only one forcing him to do it is himself,” he continued.

Felix still felt confused and lost, causing him to start spacing out. 

San gave a small sigh, he knew it was a lot to take in. He himself had the same reaction back when he had first found out. It wasn’t everyday that one would find out that there was actually a ghoul who could easily infiltrate what should have been a highly guarded government building.

The bright smiled older waited but seeing the boy still lost in thought, he left to go to the back. Upon coming back, the elder held two stacks of folded clothes in his hands and handed one to Felix, saying, “Since you’re not going to go anywhere, why not help with in the cafe?” 

Felix snapped out of his daze and nodded, quickly changing into his new uniform. It was surprisingly a perfect fit - not too loose yet not too tight either. He went to the front with San, helping the elder to place the baked goods in the displays before also helping to arrange the tables and chairs. 

They opened the cafe, San working behind the counter making coffee while Felix served the customers and cleaned tables. Usually when Felix is near pastries or any similarly sweet baked goods, he would start to salivate - he always had a sweet tooth. Now he felt like the treats weren’t appetizing at all, he didn’t think he ever would again. Not after what happened this morning. 

_At least the customers were enjoying it_. 

When Felix ran out of things to do, he walked towards San who was similarly listless, due to the small influx of customers. He decided to talk to the older about some things that he was curious to know. It wasn’t like they had anything better to do anyway. 

“So is this cafe only for humans?”

“Nah. This place also serves ghouls too.” San replied while drying the dishes using a towel.

“They must come here to buy coffee huh?” Felix said although more to himself than the man beside him. 

Nonetheless, San had heard him and was going to correct him when suddenly the cafe door was slammed open. 

“Hyung! I’ll have the usual. Oh and don’t forget my cheesecake.” the man exclaims as he walks in. 

The male looked young with his bright orange hair, plump cheeks and large shining eyes. His cheeks and bright smile reminded Felix of a _Quokka_. The man walked up to the counter and greeted San happily, only then noticing Felix.

“Oh! A new person! Hello!” the man exclaimed, waving his hand excitedly.

_“I know you're excited and all but please take it easy on him, Jisung-ah.”_


	9. A Day's Work

“It’s fine, hyung.” Jisung said, looking at San. 

The male then turned to stare straight into Felix’s eyes with a blank face, as he bended over the counter and leaned impossibly closer with every passing moment, eventually getting too close for Felix’s comfort. Soon he burst out into a wide grin, eyes crinkling in happiness as he questioned Felix, “Anyways, I’ve never seen you before and wow you’re hot. Are you new around here?”

“Jisung...” San said with a worried tone, hoping the boy would back away from the blonde. Felix smiled awkwardly, trying to reassure the older male that he was fine. The boy hadn’t done anything wrong anyway. Felix had just never been good with strangers, his bad experiences in Australia being the main cause and while the boy was a little overwhelming, he didn’t mean anything bad, his smile was way too earnest for him to have any ulterior motives.

It actually made him somewhat happy to know that someone genuinely wanted to get to know him. Wanting to show the elder that he was fine with the boy’s actions and to try and make some friends in Korea he replied to the boy albeit timidly, “Uh.. yeah. I just moved from Australia not too long ago. My name is Felix.” 

Jisung's mouth seemed to drop wide open in awe. “Australia?! That’s so cool! I wish I could travel to other countries too but I can’t leave Minho hyung alone. He’ll probably die in a ditch somewhere if I do that or he’ll commit suicide because of how much he missesmy wonderful self.” Jisung ranted as Felix listened to the boy, not understanding who or what he was talking about but making no move to stop the boy anyway. 

When the boy finally finished his rant about his ‘Minho hyung’, he started to ask Felix about Australia. The conversation started off slow as Felix still felt rather shy but the other’s bright personality made it easier for Felix to relax and adjust. Soon enough the two’s conversation took off as the two realised they had a lot in common, prompting the two boys to talk more and more.

San stood at the side watching as Felix interacted with someone other than him and Chan - someone close to his age. Although the man sighs as he resumed working, the corners of his mouth raised a little, revealing his true thoughts as he walked to the storage room. When the older returned, he was holding a brown paper bag. It was the same one everyone gets when they place an order that was to be taken out. 

However, Felix who was still unaccustomed to controlling his senses accidentally let go of his hold on his sense of smell and immediately the smell of iron surrounded him. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was the smell of blood. He tried to pinpoint where the smell was coming from only to land on the paper bag San was handing Jisung. It was filled with flesh. Jisung is a _ghoul._

What Felix really didn’t understand was why the ghoul had asked for cheesecake and why San didn't seem bothered by it at all. San had actually taken a small paper box, placed a slice of cheesecake inside and the box inside a separate paper bag, giving both the bags to Jisung who had just noticed that San had finished preparing his takeout. Jisung took the bags and was about to leave but suddenly froze for a moment and seemed to be contemplating something before saying, “Actually I’ll have one more to eat here this time.” 

San just sighed, his lips forming a straight line as he followed the boy’s wish. Felix was left very confused thinking, ‘Ghouls can’t even handle the scent of regular human food. The taste is even worse than the smell.’ Remembering what happened in the morning, he nearly barfed just thinking about it _‘How can he eat that? Won’t he get sick?’_ he wondered.

Jisung's face lit up as soon as he saw San taking out another cheesecake, placing it onto a plate and taking a spoon. The orange-haired man stared at the cake intently and even started to drool. He quickly took the cheesecake, cutting off a piece of the cake using the spoon San had given him and eating it. The man visibly shuddered and said, “This tastes disgusting. _I love it._ ” 

Felix, now beyond confused, approached the older male and asked in a whisper, “Hyung, isn’t he a ghoul? Why is he eating cheesecake?”

San was surprised for a moment, wondering how Felix knew Jisung was a ghoul. He then remembered the bag he gave the boy. He then replied to Felix’s questions, “Don’t ask. Ever since the day I first met him, he would always order the same thing. I gave up on trying to understand him a long time ago.”

After a few moments of silently watching as Jisung suffered while eating the cheesecake, San and Felix resume working, a new batch of customers entering the store. Watching as the boy finally leaves not too long after Felix couldn’t help but think that Jisung is a very interesting person. 

~*~*~*~*~

Chan opened the glass doors of the CCG building, while yawning. He was annoyed that he had to go to work today. Usually it was up to him when he would work since his job required him to track down ghouls anyway. So if he hadn't managed to track one down he didn't have to report in for work. 

Unfortunately for him though, today was a special case that would extend to the rest of the week and possibly even the next. He was called in because he was supposed to mentor one of the newly promoted rank 3 investigators. It wasn't actually his job since he never signed up to be a mentor - he was just filling in for someone who did since he was the only first class investigator that wasn't busy or hospitalised.

Why would he willingly mentor someone who would blindly kill his kind regardless of whether they were actually bad or not? While it was only to be for the first week or two, the fact that his freelancer-like schedule now became more akin to a white collar job meant that he didn’t like it one bit.

In front of him stood an RC scan gate, he was neither worried nor scared of it. He knew it wouldn’t detect anything. He walked past the gate, nodding in acknowledgement at the guards who greeted him and got on the escalator that led to one of the bigger halls they had in the building. He kept playing with his hair on the way to the auditorium, the washable dye he used annoyed him as it made his head feel heavier. Chan didn’t think he would ever get used to the feeling. 

Chan who hadn’t particularly cared for the event took his time and upon finally arriving at the venue, he saw a line of people up on the stage. The men and women were all standing perfectly upright except for the one which really made the said male stand out. Standing at the very end of said row was a boy who looked much more relaxed and confident in comparison to his peers and while seemingly radiating an arrogant aura the sharp look in the boy’s eyes made Chan believe that it wasn’t a mere bluff. Although the boy had been promoted he didn’t show any signs of being happy or pleased.

One by one the lower ranked investigators were assigned to a mentor. Each mentor climbed onto the stage as they were called upon to greet their two new ‘students’. It seemed that Chan was an exception, being last to be called upon and there was only one man left on stage without a mentor, the boy who exuded a regal aura. 

“Rank 2 Investigator Lee Minho and his mentor, First Class Investigator Bang Chan.”

After finishing all the formalities, Chan decided it would be best to try to get to know Minho since he’s going to mentor the male for quite some time. If he had to be stuck with this kid, might as well get along, right?

“Congratulations on your promotion, buddy! Minho, was it?”

“Yes, thank you, sir. I look forward to working with you.” Chan was taken aback at the incredibly formal reply the boy gave. It was vastly different from the impression given off by his bodily demeanor. Chan, never one for formalities felt slightly peeved. He really hoped that the boy wouldn’t act like this the entire time he had to mentor.

“I’m only a temporary mentor, since your actual mentor got a serious injury not too long ago. Anyway how do you feel now that you’ve been promoted?” Chan asked in efforts to continue the conversation. It seemed impossible however as Minho was just too hard to converse with, only replying with short statements of agreement or denial. 

After some time, Chan ran out of things to talk about and the male noticed this. He actually seemed happy that Chan finally stopped, quickly saluting Chan in farewell before he made his way to leave the venue. Although Chan was confused with this lost child, he decided to leave the boy be and similarly leave the after party. He didn’t want to stay in a room filled with his potential murderers any longer than he had to. The person he came to the venue for had already left anyway.

\--

Walking down the corridor, Minho was glad he got out of the party. As much as he admires the people at CCG, he couldn’t care less about making new friends. He even thinks that having the ceremony event was a huge waste of time. They should use their time to hunt down more ghouls instead, they are getting trained and paid to hunt ghouls, not to party in the middle of the day.

Minho was an unfortunate child. A ghoul had broken into their house when he was younger. And while a CCG investigator had come and managed to save him, the same couldn’t be said about his parents. That day his parents had been mindlessly killed by a ghoul. While it had caused a psychological trauma to develop in the male, he had also become inspired to become a CCG investigator.

The journey to even start becoming an investigator was long and hard, unlike the other people who had been in the hall, he was much younger and had long since given up on his education, instead committing himself to his training. He learnt basic fighting skills and later on joined the CCG’s Ghoul Investigator Training Academy. After he graduated he worked as a Rank 3 Investigator for a full year and finally killed a ghoul, obtaining its kakuhou. 

He finally got the chance to get his own quinque. No more weasley guns and Q bullets. He actually got his very own quinque, and now that he had it, he could start to fulfill his dream - to rid this world of as many ghouls as he can, so that no one else had to go through what he did. Never again.

After walking for a while, he finally stopped in front of metal double doors. When he entered the room, a female in a long white lab coat approached him as though she had been waiting for him. The woman greeted him and she started to talk to Minho about his promotion.

The male didn’t seem particularly interested though and as soon as all prefunctuary greetings were exchanged he immediately gestured to the briefcase the woman was carrying in her hand. The woman’s face scrunched up in displeasure thinking about how men were all idiots before handing him the case and leaving him alone as she went back to work.

Minho paid no attention to the woman’s actions and instead pressed the button on the briefcase handle. The briefcase transformed and he looked at the weapon that now lay in his hand, his eyes glinting sharply. 

‘Finally.’


	10. My Window!

It was finally time for Chan to go home and he was very happy about it. He can finally wash off his low quality hair dye, eat lunch and see his little aussie brother. Although he still has to ‘work’ at night, he would prefer to be ‘Alpha’ than ‘Investigator Bang’ any day. 

He couldn’t help but let his mentee, Minho, plague his mind though, having done so ever since the male had just randomly left. Just as he was thinking about him, Minho came out of the CCG building, holding a silver briefcase in his hand. 

‘Oh, he got his quinque.’ Chan thought, surprised. The male had only just got promoted and he got his quinque. Normally, investigators would get it 3 to 4 days after when the lab finishes sorting all the quinques that are to be distributed. ‘He must have taken it directly from the lab himself.’

After a moment of hesitation, Chan decided to approach the kid and tap his shoulder. Minho flinched, immediately turning around and got into a fighting stance. He quickly realized it was just Chan and subsequently lowered his guard. The older male thought that the younger acted like a startled cat and chuckled, finding it cute. 

However, he also thought that the younger was taking the entire CCG business way too seriously. After all, despite the murders and everything, in the end, it was merely a job.

Deciding to try and make small talk, he started, “Hey, Minho! I see you got your quinque. Mind letting me take a little peek?”

Almost immediately the younger had answered or rather deflected, his voice firm as his eyes narrowed trying to assert his words, “Sorry, sir. The usage of quinques are reserved only during missions or emergencies. Not only would taking it out now be against protocol, it is also simply unnecessary.” 

“Right...” Chan replied, laughing sheepishly before he continued, “I totally forgot about that one.”

Inwardly, Chan was deadpanning, thinking once more that the boy was way too serious. The boy’s stiffness honestly reminded him of a robot and that was starting to annoy him a little. Chan hated formality since, from the start, he had always been more of a family man. He really didn’t like that the boy seemed to draw a clear line between them - one that had ‘strictly-business’ written all over it. 

For Chan, even if they were only to work together for a few weeks, they should still try to get along. It’s a bit weird? Not really a norm to just keep yourself away from your co-worker. Developing a bond even if not deep is common courtesy after all. If they ended up going their separate ways without maintaining their ‘friendship’, that would be fine. Perhaps even great, considering Chan’s circumstances. 

The older understood very well that this world is dark and filled with betrayal. Heck! Even Chan himself was a possible future enemy of the boy. It just hurt, knowing that he was untrustworthy. However, it wasn’t as though he would put his trust on someone so easily either. Chan didn’t really know why he was annoyed by it. 

It was hypocritical really. Usually, he would be the one staying away from others. Usually, he would be the one to be down-right ecstatic if the investigators left him alone. Especially, since it meant that there would be less of a chance for him to be caught. 

While Chan was in the middle of having an existential crisis, a figure quickly approached the two men. The figure jumped onto Minho’s back and hugged the boy tightly - almost as though his life was on the line. Chan watched as Minho’s stiff and serious expression morphed into a soft smile upon looking back and recognising the figure that had suddenly jumped out of nowhere onto the man in the middle of the street. 

The person looked to be around the same age as Minho and Chan, although the male was likely to be younger if his youthful face was any indication. He didn’t seem anywhere near to how burdened the two older males were, meaning it was likely for him to still be in highschool or perhaps just entering college. Near to no one got through highschool without a wrinkle or two.

Then again, there were many people who looked younger than their actual age in Korea, so Chan couldn't be sure and he wasn’t about to start making assumptions either.

“Minho hyung! Congratulations on your promotion, I knew you could do it! Here, I bought cheesecake for you so we could celebrate!” The youthful male exclaimed.

True to expectations, his mentee didn’t answer with the same enthusiasm, calmly replying with a short, “Thanks Sungie.”

The two continued to talk, quickly getting lost in their own world until Minho had finally remembered that his mentor still stood right beside them, watching the two converse, in silence. He instantly shoved Jisung away from him, looking at Chan in panic as he started to nervously rant, “Oh right, you’re still here, sir. I’m so sorry for this inconvenience. Uh, this is my friend Jisung. And uh, Jisung, this is my temporary mentor, First Class Investigator Bang Chan. Oh right you didn’t actually need to know that. Sor-”

“It’s fine, Minho.” Chan cut him off. Wouldn’t want to let the dude rant on forever - Felix was waiting for him back at home. Not to mention, Chan was really hungry too.

“Seeing you this flustered amuses me.” Chan bluntly continued, a smile forming as his eyes formed crescents. 

Jisung silently watched the two interact and proceeded to stare at Chan, creeping the older out when he noticed. A few seconds passed and Jisung slowly walked towards him, taking Chan’s hand in his and shaking it as he smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Bang.”

“Just Chan.” Chan replied as he scanned Jisung from head to toe. He swore that he’s seen the boy somewhere before - even his voice sounded familiar. He can’t seem to pinpoint where though. However, Chan let it be since it didn’t matter all too much whether or not he had met the boy before. The city was home to a lot of people and it’s not weird to have bumped into someone on the streets or in passing either.

Then again to be fair, at the moment, nothing seemed more important to Chan than the meal that awaits him at home. With the thought of a _delicious_ meal in mind, Chan bid the two males goodbye, quickly heading back before his hunger could take over. 

Chan had left the two men behind and Jisung once again jumped on Minho, a huge gummy smile on his face. “Hyung~” he called out. Although it sounded more like a whine than anything else, anyone could tell that the boy was overjoyed.

“Let’s go to your house and celebrate like I initially planned.” Jisung said, grabbing the boy’s arm in order to drag the said male towards his house. Minho just smiled at the younger male and was about to nod but halted as he recalled something. He stopped walking, causing Jisung to stop in his tracks as well.

“Sorry, Sung. I just remembered that Auntie invited my cousins over and I know how much you hate them. ”Minho said with a frown as he saw Jisung deflate like a balloon. Jisung pouted and started to whine as he tugged on his hyung’s arm, “Then let’s just go to a restaurant or something. I’m sure Auntie won’t mind.”

Minho shook his head, “She basically raised me as her own. She wants to brag about me during the dinner, who am I to abandon her?” This caused Jisung’s pout to deepen, he looked at his hyung in the eyes and seemingly begged him. Minho sighed as he once again shook his head. 

“You know I can’t. It’s okay Sung, we can celebrate on another day.” Minho consoled the boy, patting his head. Seeing the male still being unwilling to let him go he tried to bribe the younger, “I’ll pay for the cheesecake next time? I’ll even let you eat as much as you want?”

Jisung’s eyes lit up although he still whined, “Not fair! How could you use my love for cheesecakes against me!” The younger huffed in clear discontent and annoyance but eventually gave in, the thought of an endless supply of free cheesecake was too tempting and nodded at his hyung softly asking, “Promise?”

“Promise.” Minho said.

Jisung broke out into a grin, letting go of Minho’s arm as he ran into the crowd in the opposite direction. Minho waved at the boy who left before turning back and walking off.

~*~*~*~*~

Now that Minho was on his way home, Jisung started to chase after Chan. He had a weird feeling about the investigator. The man’s scent wasn’t like any of the humans he encountered before and it aroused his interest. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do since his original plan flew out the window so he decided to see what made the man different. At least he could waste time this way. 

The male had gone pretty far since he left quite some time ago but Jisung being a ghoul could just follow along the man’s scent. The fact that the man’s scent was rather unique helped as well. The sky soon turned dark and Jisung took this to his advantage, using his superior speed as a ghoul. As he followed the scent, it led him past many familiar roads although he couldn’t place his mind on why it did.

After passing by a couple more streets he realized that Chan was walking towards Young Wings cafe. Han hastened his steps and just as he had predicted the scent brought him to the cafe. He silently wondered what the man was doing since the cafe was closed at this hour. Arriving at the cafe, Jisung saw Chan there taking out a key from his pocket, unlocking the door and entering the cafe before locking the door behind him. “Oh! He has a key!”

‘Key….?’Jisung took some time to process this and his thoughts immediately went to the worst possible situation he could think of. 

“Oh my god! He stole the key!” Jisung exclaimed. He thought that the man was going to rob the cafe - maybe being an investigator doesn’t pay as well as he thought it did. He was inwardly cursing at the man for even thinking of robbing someone but sighed in relief once he remembered that San, who he assumed lives there, was a ghoul and that the man could very well defend himself and the cafe from a measly human.

‘Wait…. Ghoul…. Ah!’ Jisung instantly panicked at the thought of San being discovered as a ghoul. ‘Chan must have been sent to kill San hyung!’ Jisung thought as he continued to panic, ‘Oh no! He’s going to kill hyung. I’ve got to help him!’ 

He was about to sprint into the building before thinking again. ‘Wait, that dude is a first class and he has his quinque! I could die! I don’t even have my mask. What if I get exposed?!’ At this point, Han was pacing back and forth on the street he was currently on. ‘But San hyung! But I could die! San! Death! Yes! No!’

After a few minutes of hesitating, he decided to go in and fight. ‘Surely, with San hyung’s and my strength combined we would win. After successfully killing that investigator, San might even give me more cheesecake!’ Jisung thought, trying his best to encourage himself. 

‘It’ll be fine.’ He repeated over and over in his mind as he launched himself onto the roof of the building just beside the cafe. Using his heightened sense of hearing, he tried to predict where Chan and ‘San’ were. He heard footsteps going up what he assumed to be a staircase before it stopped in one of the rooms. Thankfully, the room seemed accessible from the roof he was on, although the only way in was through the window.

This was likely to be his only chance. He swiftly scanned his surroundings, checking to see if anyone was nearby and fortunately for him, no one was. His eyes turned red as he let out his dark red tail-like kagune. 

He crouched down, pushing himself forward towards the cafe window. When he neared the window, he twisted his body mid-air and forced his way into the room, using his kagune to block the flying window fragments. He crashed onto the floor falling into a roll before managing to stop himself right before the only man in the room. He raised his tail behind him as he exclaimed, 

_“Stop right there, you dirty bastard!”_

Hearing the sound of shattering glass and the boy’s exclamation, Chan turned his head towards the source dumbfoundedly.

‘Huh?’

What Jisung didn’t expect was to see Chan sitting down at what looks like a dining table, his mouth covered with blotches of blood, eating flesh. Furthermore, Chan's hair was no longer it’s familiar black but instead an unnatural white that was swept back and kinda soaked, as though he had just climbed out of the shower. It seems the man had gotten the chance to take a quick shower in the time Jisung took to convince himself to ‘save’ San. 

The male was frozen in place due to shock, in the middle of shoving a piece of meat into his mouth. 

‘Wait…’ 

“Where’s San hyung?” asked the orange head, voice barely above a whisper, clearly puzzled. There was a moment of awkward silence as the two of them stayed rooted in place, staring at one another. 

True to his nature, though, Jisung soon couldn’t handle the silent staring and hoping that it would break the tension, let out a small bout of nervous laughter before he acted out, giving a tiny, “Uh.. hi?”

Chan blankly stared at him for some time before breaking out of his trance and abruptly pushed both of his hands against the table, standing up and pointed at the debris. The older looked distressed, hands flying all over the place as he fretted over the wreckage which used to be his window that was left on the floor and started muffled screaming with food still in his mouth. 

When he realized he was inaudible, he quickly spit his food onto his plate. Tearing up slightly, Chan turned his head to the other person in the room, whinyly reprimanding the orange head, “My window! Do you know how much it costs to get it fixed?!” 

However, just as he was about to continue his rant, the older realized that he was familiar with the face right in front of him. Of course with Chan being Chan, he had no intention of scolding the male too badly - only that he couldn’t help but let out his exasperation, “Aren’t you Minho’s friend? What the hell are you doing at my house?!”

Jisung stared at the male dumbfoundedly, “Y-your house?”


	11. You’re a Cannibal?!

Felix sat next to Jisung on the couch in the living room, having come down shortly after hearing all the commotion from downstairs. The male was extremely confused to say the least, especially, considering that no one had taken the time to explain to him why there was a broken window on the floor and why the bright orange haired male made a sudden appearance at their house.

Jisung took another bite of his now half eaten cheesecake, shivering in disgust despite the happy smile on his face. Chan much like Felix was staring at the boy as he ate the cheesecake, cringing in pure disgust as though he himself was eating the cheesecake.

~*~*~*~*~

When Felix arrived at the dining room a few minutes ago, he was met with the sight of a broken window on the floor and two equally confused ghouls staring at one another. Upon noticing his arrival, Jisung, who was very shocked and confused had instantly taken a step back and pointed at Chan accusingly, exclaiming, “Yah! What do you mean your house?! This is San hyung’s house!” 

As the younger male glared at the investigator in front of him he started to pay more attention to the white haired man and suddenly realized that there was blood all over the said man’s mouth. This prompted Jisung to start shouting panickedly, finger still pointing directly at the male, “Is that blood?! Oh my god, you’re a cannibal?! You’re even worse than I thought!” 

“Wha- Cannibal?! I’m a ghoul!” Chan said, silently wondering how the younger was so stupid. 

“No, you’re not! You’re an investigator! You can’t be both at the same time!” the male then froze, pausing for a moment before he looked at Chan curiously, eyes wide and eyebrows raised, “Can you?”

Chan just sighs in exhaustion at the boy’s question. Just as he thought things were going back to normal after the entire ‘adopting Felix fiasco’, life decides to throw another rock at him. Well then again his life was never really ‘normal’ to begin with. 

After pondering for some time, Chan finally walked towards the door, massaging his nose bridge as he did so. He then beckoned the younger to come with him, “So, Jisung was it? Maybe we can discuss all of this with some coffee?” 

Jisung still very much on guard, huffed and crossed his arms as he shook his head, refusing to follow the older male, “No! I’m not moving an inch until you tell me where San hyung is and what you did to him!”

Felix, who was still very confused about what was happening, had thought of an idea and spoke out, crossing his fingers in hopes it would work, “Hey Jisung. I know where San hyung stored the remaining cheesecakes. Want a slice?”

Hearing the name of his favorite food, the younger’s expression quickly lit up. He instantly seemed to forget the problem at hand and happily skipped out of the room ahead of Felix - clearly excited.

Now, it was Chan’s turn to be confused, “C-cheesecake? Isn’t he a gh-” 

“Don’t ask.” Felix said, leaving the room. Chan stared at the younger’s retreating back and just nodded, confusion sprawn all over his face before quickly following the younger out the room.

~*~*~*~*~

After giving Jisung a slice of cheesecake, they all sat down in the living room which led to the current situation. Chan started to explain his side of the story - with Felix who was still very much clueless on what happened. After having cleared all the confusion, they all just sat silently.

Jisung carefully placed the plate and fork he used on the coffee table, having finished the cake. Feeling very satisfied, he finally took in his surroundings since he hadn’t done so before as his mind was only filled with the thought of cheesecake and was very much amazed. He knew how amazing San’s, or now he knew as Chan’s cafe was but he didn’t think it would be the same for the entire building.

“Wah, this place is so awesome. You guys have an actual fan and tables and chairs and stuff. Agh, I’m so jealous!” Jisung said, his mouth forming a pout. Hearing him say this, the two became very confused and concerned. 

After a moment of silence, Felix decided to speak up and asked the boy the question that was plaguing their minds,“So.. uh, where do you live, Jisung?” Still looking around the room in complete awe, Jisung answered in a relaxed tone as though what he said was a normal thing, 

“Oh, I live under a bridge.” 

“Under a what?!” The two almost said in sync.

“Yeah. My parents got killed when I was younger so I was sent to an orphanage. Got too old though so i was kicked out. Since I neither had money or a job, I chose the next best thing and moved under a bridge. It’s honestly not that bad once you get used to it.” Jisung added.

“Wait. If you have no job nor money, how have you been buying stuff from the cafe?” Chan asked. 

“I steal from people. I mean, I guess I can hunt myself, but I get too lazy. Besides, people are so absent minded nowadays.” Jisung said, shrugging.

“What about your clothes? Where do you get them?” Felix asked. Extremely surprised at the way this boy lives his lifestyle.

“I take Minho hyung’s! He only wears that stupid white coat of his nowadays. I don’t think he even realizes his closet is half empty now.” Jisung said, snorting at the thought of his hyung.

“Speaking of Minho. How are you friends with someone like him? I mean, he’s a CCG investigator afterall, and a very serious one in fact.” Chan asked again and for once, Jisung wasn’t smiling. He looked down at the white furry carpet that kinda reminded him of chan’s hair with a very upset expression on his face. Even his tone wasn’t the joyful, loud tone the three were used to. 

“He doesn’t know that I’m a ghoul. We’ve been friends for quite some t-time, for almost my w-whole life actually. But if he f-finds out that I’m.. the very same monster he fears, he would definitely k-kill me without hesitating.” He stopped mid-way, looking down at his hands, as they formed fists and started to tremble from the amount of force he’s used as he clenched it.

“It really hurts,” He continued, a few slight hitches could be sensed from his voice.

“It hurts that I have to h-hide myself from my own b-best friend.” Jisung said, beginning to stutter the longer he spoke and he was basically sobbed at his own implications. He then started to tremble, his breath hitching even more. 

Chan instantly panicked when he saw the boy heaving, the younger finding it hard to breathe as he was hyperventilating. The older ghoul approached him slowly, not wanting to worsen the boy’s condition by accidentally scaring the younger. Seeing that Jisung didn’t react badly to him approaching, he wrapped his arms around the boy and patted the boy’s back to reassure him. He softly whispered, telling the male to calm down and breathe. 

Chan rocked the boy back and forth in his hold all while whispering assurances to the younger. The younger listened sobs gradually receding as he calmed down. Soon the orangette finally stopped sobbing and trembling, returning back to a semblance of his former state. It was evident that he wasn’t completely recovered though, still lying limp in Chan’s arms - likely due to the exhaustion that came with crying.

Felix had watched the two males silently as to not disturb the two other ghouls. His heart broke when he heard the shuddery breaths the younger of the two let out, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. 

Despite having known Jisung for a very short time, he knew that the ghoul was originally a cheerful person. It was always hard to see someone cry, but to see someone who had acted so bright and carefree completely breakdown to the point he could barely breathe, and now even lay almost lifelessly in another’s embrace - was devastating.

After a moment of silence with everyone feeling downtrodden due to the boy’s sudden nervous breakdown, Chan broke the silence as he offered Jisung his hand, asking, “So Jisung, how would you feel staying here with us?”

Jisung’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Chan, asking the male with a raspy voice that was stammered due to disbelief “H-here...? With y-you and F-felix? You guys won’t m-mind?” 

Chan chuckled at the teen’s reaction, Felix hit Chan’s shoulder as he rolled his eyes. The older man knew that the blonde was showing how he was upset that the older man had not only made the orange-haired boy break out into a stutter again but also laughed at the boy afterwards. 

Chan laughed once more, albeit sheepishly this time, rubbing the back of his head as he finally replied to the teen, “Of course we wouldn’t! **_The more the merrier!_ ** We’ll be more than glad to have you here, right?” 

Felix nodded in silent agreement, smiling at the two males.

Jisung was really shocked. This was, as far as he had known, the first time anyone other than Minho were even remotely nice to him. Ghouls were territorial creatures but the two males in front of him didn’t seem the least bit bothered. The blonde couldn't stop the tears that formed at the corner of his eyes, letting it fall.

As the ever familiar wide heart-shaped grin returned to his face, he took Chan’s hand with both of his and shook it in a very hyper manner, whispering gratefully, 

_“Thank you.”_


	12. Welcome!

After a short visit to Jisung's old 'home' to collect his clothes and other items, the male officially moved in with the other two. Despite having quite a few empty rooms available in the house, the boy insisted on sharing a room with Felix saying that he had always wanted to have a hot roommate.

Felix - who didn't really have much of a choice on the matter, just went with it. Chan was apprehensive at first, but he soon got over it, letting the younger men do whatever they wanted. it would help the two younger males to bond anyway.

Now that Jisung lived with them, everyday was rather chaotic. Neither Chan nor San knew if the boy was helping or creating more work for them. For the most part, the orange-haired teen didn't seem to be helping - that was for sure. Even Felix could vouch for it.

When Chan had left the decision of what Jisung would do to 'help' around the cafe to San, the mostly black haired male had actually wanted Jisung to work behind the counter. However, knowing Jisung, he would likely snack on the cheesecakes at every given opportunity and so just made the orangette serve customers instead or rather just delivering orders to their designated tables.

San thought it was best to let him tend to the customers himself, the male would rather not give the boy that much power since he couldn't really expect the young ghoul to keep his thoughts to himself. The boy was much too expressive and the older just couldn't imagine a situation where Jisung managing the orders would result in something good.

Unfortunately for the older male, he soon found out that Jisung didn't really fit the whole waiter job either, since he kept dropping things and occasionally pestered the customers too much - something he had hoped he wouldn't do if he gave the younger the waiter job. However, San figured it was still better than letting him anywhere near 'his' cafe's precious supply of cheesecakes.

Besides, the boy was always running about, either annoying his 'Minho hyung' or doing whatever it is that he does out in the city and was rarely around during peak hours. Jisung surprisingly had a lot of things to do and San could tell he enjoyed it better in comparison to staying at the cafe tending to customers.

As long as he doesn't do anything foolish to expose himself, he could live normally amongst humans, so both of the older ghouls - Chan and San - let him be.

Normally, Chan would have stayed at home until around noon trying to catch up on the sleep that he didn't usually get later in the night. However, since he was assigned as Minho's temporary mentor, the man has been constantly going to the CCG building and supervising the younger, which he found to be incredibly tiring.

Today, there was no deviation in the schedule he had recently adopted. Chan was once again late for 'work', not really wanting to go. He had breakfast with the two younger males, Felix having finally come to terms with them eating flesh although he himself still refused to do so.

As soon as he finished eating, Chan was in the middle of gathering the used plates and utensils before Felix grabbed his arm, stopping him from doing so. "Hyung, you know that I can clean this up myself right? You're already running late."

"But I don't want to go to work." Chan whined.

"Hyung.."

Chan didn't like it but it wasn't like he had a choice. He sighed and nodded, quickly giving a quick "See you later!" and rushing out of the back door as he tried to get to work as fast as possible.

Sighing, Felix continued where Chan had left off.

Momentarily put off and confused by the rubber duck he found on the sink, he proceeded with cleaning up the mess left behind after their meal. Midway through placing the washed and dried plates, he realized that Chan, in his rush, had forgotten to bring his quinque along with him. The silver briefcase laying on top of the living room's coffee table.

"Oh no, hyung forgot to bring his quinque! What should I do?" Felix muttered under his breath, sighing with a worried look on his face.

Jisung, who had just returned from the bathroom, was now stuffing his mouth full of flesh. Having clearly heard what the younger male was talking about to himself due to his enhanced hearing, the orangette suggested, "Maybe try asking San hyung. I'm pretty sure something like this has happened before."

Felix raised his eyebrow in question, not really understanding how the other was able to hear anything. He decided to put it aside, it wasn't as though he was well acquainted with everything that came with being a ghoul. Furthermore, he felt that it wasn't exactly the most important matter at hand in the current moment and merely nodded his agreement.

He quickly called out San who just so happens to already be setting up the cafe at front. A few seconds later, San came into the room and Felix started to explain what had happened.

Hearing what the young ghoul had to say he sighed, shaking his head and reassured the younger, "It's fine, Felix. You wouldn't believe how often this happens. Let me just call her..."

San took his phone out and seemingly texted someone before putting it back in his pocket. The older smiled at him, "Now, we wait."

While waiting for this mysterious entity to appear, San had gone back to work; the cafe was open and it wasn't as though the customers were going to serve themselves and brew their own coffee. Neither Felix nor Jisung - surprisingly - had wanted to be dead weight, so they followed San to the front to help.

After waiting for a few minutes, someone slammed the door open, startling Felix and Jisung. San, however, remained unbothered by the commotion, not even sparing a glance before greeting, "Morning, Sejeong Noona."

"Morning," she replied.

The female had a bright smile on her face, one that exuded a rather child-like aura, pure and free. Her hair was short, just reaching her shoulders but if the brown curls were any indication, they were actually much longer. She wore a blue, red, and white striped long sleeved shirt that was tucked into a pair of high waisted jean shorts fastened using a dark brown belt, a pair of black high-top converse fitted on her feat.

Something that intrigued Felix, though, was the black backpack that she had slung over her left shoulder. It wasn't zipped all the way, allowing for the blonde to see what was inside, numerous cans - they were spray paint canisters. Almost immediately, he started to notice the various blotches of colors splattered all over her bag, clothes, and hands.

"I got your message. Where's the briefcase?" The female asked, extending her arm towards San.

"Here. Also, can't you please knock and maybe wait outside before coming in? I can't always fix the door before Chan hyung comes home and you know how he would react with his door on the ground." San replied as he gave the silver briefcase to her.

The female nodded as she rolled her eyes and was about to leave when she saw Felix and Jisung staring at her with equally confused looks on their faces. "What? Never seen a girl before? Wait, you two seem new here, maybe that's why. I'm Sejeong, nice to meet both of you."

"Anyways, I better give this to pretty boy before Channie realizes he doesn't have it. See ya." Sejeong waves as she dashes out.

San shook his head and looked back at the younger two who were still visibly confused and explained, "Kim Sejeong, our freelancer. Spends most of her time doing graffiti in some alley or any building in general so is always free when we ask her to deliver stuff like drinks, pastries, and most importantly, Chan hyung's briefcase."

"Speaking of drinks and pastries, our cafe staff is surprisingly active today so I won't be needing the help of both of you today. So I guess you're free today! I don't mind any of you exploring the city for a bit so please make sure to come back at least before closing time. I do hope both of you stick together though."

"Alright, hyung." Jisung said, nodding with a cheerful smile. With that San left the room, leaving the two teens behind. When Jisung was sure that the older had really left, he immediately stood up and clasped his hands together as his eyes lit up, squealing, "So, where does San hyung store his cheesecakes? I'm sure he has a slice or two somewhere."

Jisung left the room, heading towards the kitchen and Felix, who wanted to stop him at first, shook his head and let the boy be. It was useless trying to stop the male when he was that determined. All three of them had learnt this the hard way.

For the first time in a long time, Felix was left with nothing to do. He was just sitting in the living room, drinking what little was left of the coffee that Chan had made earlier this morning. He fell into a daze thinking about how weird his life is. One moment he left his house, the next he got kidnapped and experimented on and now he got himself a new home, living a relatively peaceful life with little to no worries.

While Felix was lost in his thoughts, Jisung came into the living room looking for the said blonde as he felt bored. When the older saw how bored the younger was as well, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. Jisung quickly approached the boy, bumping into him causing Felix to nearly spill the coffee in his hands all over the white carpet on the floor.

"Hey, Felix? Want to go out and go to the arcade?" Jisung asked the boy, sincerely hoping the younger would agree so that they didn't have to be cooped up in the cafe. Felix instantly shook his head silently, continuing to sip his coffee causing Jisung to deflate, disappointed.

After some time the older perked up again, coming up with a different idea."Ok then.. How about we go shopping for clothes? The ones you have look loose on you." Jisung suggested again but unfortunately just like before, Felix shook his head. Jisung, who was dead set on going out, kept proposing all sorts of different ideas, but Felix still gave the same answer each and every time.

When Jisung finally ran out of ideas, he started whining, "Why are you so hard to please?"

Felix placed his empty cup down and sighed. "It's not that I don't want to go out. I actually want to see what Korea is like, but I'm just afraid that they'll find me." He said, looking out the window.

"What are you talking about? They? Who are 'they'? Are you being tracked down or something?" Jisung asked, head tilted in confusion. Felix raised his head, about to say something, but he decided to just silently nod in reply.

"Woah that's so cool! Wait! That's not what I meant!" Jisung said, the words accidentally slipped out of his mouth. The older's words made Felix feel rather uncomfortable. The living room became dead silent, tension heavy.

Jisung suddenly lit up when he thought of another idea. He stood up, grabbed the younger's hand and dragged the male behind him, exclaiming in excitement, "Oh! I know where we should go! It's a very exciting place, and you're coming with me, no excuses!"

Felix looked up in surprise and immediately tried to stop the older. "But Chan hyung said-" Only to get cut off by Jisung before he could really say much, "But San hyung said we could go."

The blonde, of course, was rather adamant and retaliated, "But he doesn't know about th-"

The orangette cut the younger off yet again, "San hyung said that we should stick together and that's exactly what we're gonna do. Besides, I'm the hyung here. And your hyung tells you to follow him."

"You're only older by a damn day!" Felix exclaimed as he tried to reason with the male, voice filled with exasperation. Felix continued basically begging the 'older' at this point. Unfortunately, Jisung seemed to have made up his mind and the younger couldn't do anything about it. So Felix, although still hesitant, just followed the older's whim.

~*~*~*~*~

When they finally arrived at their destination, it had already become noon. They were standing in front of what seemed to be a traditional medicine store, something that he really didn't expect Jisung to find 'exciting' at all. To be honest, even he found it to be a bit dull and that was already considered something, since he was never one to make a fuss.

"Uh.. Jisung? Are you sure we're in the right place?" Felix said, looking at Jisung, a confused and concerned look plastered on his face. His face suddenly morphed to one filled with horror when a thought had crossed his mind, 'Please tell me he's not addicted to drugs. The cheesecake is bad enough.' He shuddered at the thought of it, and another question appeared in his mind.

'Wait... do ghouls even do drugs?'

Jisung saw the younger's face and put both his hands on his waist, glaring at the male as he scolded him, "Now, now, Felix. Hyung knows what he's doing." Felix just nodded but inwardly he started to wonder what Chan or San hyung would do when he found out about their strange little 'excursion'. Before he could think any further however, Jisung dragged him into the store.

The first thing Felix noticed was the extremely prominent scent of medicinal herbs confirming his suspicions of the place being a medicine store. Inside were counters to his left and right, a bunch of small cabinets behind the counter where he assumed the herbs, additives, balms and such were kept. On the far left corner next to a door was a high chair, an old lady sat there knitting what seemed to be a sweater. Her eyes were squinted so tightly that it looked like she couldn't see.

"Good morning, Ahjumma!" Jisung said, as he entered and waved at the old lady. Felix, not wanting to stray away from the older, followed after him as he approached the lady. "Morning, Jisung. I see you brought a new friend." The lady said.

She stopped knitting and looked up at Felix with a kind smile, reaching her hand out in greeting, "I'm Hana." Felix thought she was a charming old lady and was about to take her hand but was stopped by Jisung who scolded the lady, "Ahjumma! He's not food. You can't eat this one." Jisung said, standing in front of Felix protectively.

Hana opened her eyes wide and stared directly at Felix with her bright red irises. Felix being shocked and scared, took a step back as his instinct told him to run away. Jisung kept him rooted in place, holding onto his arm tightly. "Oh, he's a ghoul? He has such a wonderful scent though. Oh well, nevermind then, you can go down, he seems to be free." The old lady said, resuming her knitting.

Jisung nodded thankfully, opening the door next to Hana to reveal a staircase leading downwards. The older dragged Felix through the door, revealing a large room.

Looking around the room, Felix felt scared and uncomfortable. The room was eerie as the lights were dim, the walls were covered with a large variety of masks. There were various small display counters scattered all around the room and a single dark leather chair stood at the far corner of the room. Jazz-like music was playing softly and Felix swore he had heard this song before.

As they weaved through the multiple displays, Jisung looked left and right as though he was looking for someone. Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming from behind them, shocking Felix which caused him to nearly break his neck due to the speed at which he turned around to look at the source of the voice. The person stood there with a small smile on his face as he held a mask in his hands.

"Ah, customers~ Welcome."


	13. JYP

"Wait. Aren't you that one korean singer that was really famous at one point? I haven't seen or heard about you in ages!" Felix said, pointing at the person holding the mask who's smile had suddenly seemed forced, the man's face coupled with the song playing in the background having jolted his memory.

Jisung immediately snorted and bent over, bursting in laughter when he heard what Felix said. "This is so funny." The older wheezed, wiping the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes as the last bits of laughter racked through his body.

"Rude one, aren't you?" The man said with an awkward smile, his eyes turning dark as he revealed bright red irises. Felix, having snapped out of his momentary daze, immediately realised what he had done and slapped his hand over his mouth before starting to apologise to the man profusely, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Seeing how worked up the boy became, the man just chuckled, saying, "It's fine. What you said wasn't a secret or anything. I was just a bit surprised. I didn't expect someone to still remember me as JYP."

Hearing the name made Felix remember all the times he had seen the man on TV back when he was still in Australia. Felix found it amazing that the male could successfully hide the fact that he was a ghoul despite the hundreds if not thousands of people that were watching him. He would never understand how he pulled it off.

"Anyway, Jinyoung-hyung. We need a mask for my friend over here." Jisung said, smiling as he patted Felix's shoulder.

"M-mask?" Felix asked, clearly confused but was met with a lack of response from either of the two males.

Jisung didn't say anything and instead merely looked straight into his eyes but nonetheless Felix got the underlying message the older was trying to convey, 'Just go with it.' Felix, although very much terrified at the sudden situation he was put in, slowly nodded his head as he gave out an awkward smile and waved at Jinyoung.

However, Jinyoung had no reaction to it, as his face remained stoic, as the man approached Felix, standing extremely close to the boy effectively making him very uncomfortable. Felix, being the ever paranoid and overthinker he was, immediately let his mind travel through all sorts of possibilities which left him a bit afraid since most of them involved his death in more ways than one.

The man stood still for some time, eyes scanning Felix's face as though he was looking for something. Jinyoung proceeded to scan his entire figure, seemingly scrutinising it. Felix had no idea what the man was trying to see by staring at him but he figured the man had found it as the said man had taken a step backwards. The man suddenly turned around and gestured behind him for Felix to follow him, all the while muttering things under his breath.

"Come over here, I need to take some measurements." Jinyoung said as he walked towards the dark leather chair at the back of the room. Felix, who was being pushed forward by Jisung, followed after the man. Felix doing as told by Jinyoung sat on the leather chair and waited as the man left the room.

Jinyoung came back with a wooden chair in his hands, setting it beside the chair Felix was sitting on. As the man placed the chair down, Felix noticed the items that were placed on top of the said chair, namely a book, a pen and what he assumed to be the measuring tape the man was going to use. Weird to measure a face, but it works.

Lifting the items off of the wooden chair and placing them on the floor, Jinyoung sat down and silently started to take measurements of Felix's head. Jisung who had followed the two men was standing beside the older, looking at Felix with a smile as though encouraging him. After Jinyoung finished, he took the book and pen from the floor.

The man flipped open the book and pressed the back of the pen, placing the pen onto the paper as he started to write things down. While doing so, the man started to ask questions starting off simple, "Sorry the place is a bit messy right now. So, Felix right? Are you from around here? You seem to have a bit of an accent."

"No, I was born and raised in Australia." Felix said after hesitating for a bit.

"Oh, so what was it like to live there?" JYP said, as he fumbled around with the tape to extend it. Once he did, he brought it up to Felix's eye level as he stared at the readings to jot it down in the book he had.

"It was fine." Felix said immediately, looking away. Uncomfortable with the distance between them, and hoping that he wouldn't break a sweat waiting for him to finish.

Jinyoung slightly narrowed his eyes hearing the hasty answer, continuing to write and asked, "Any family members?"

"Just my mother and father."

"Ah, yes. The parents. How are they doing?" Jinyoung asked with curiosity.

"I umm.... I'm not sure. Why did you ask?" Felix hastily replied once again.

"Mmm.. nothing of importance. Anyways, why did you decide to come here?" He asked, once again narrowing his eyes a bit more than the last time.

Felix once again went silent for some time, falling into a daze as he thought about how he had run away and everything else that had led to this moment. Jinyoung looked up at the boy due to the lack of response and waved a hand in front of his face, asking, "Hello? Felix? Are you still with me?"

Felix who was startled at the sudden movement in front of him snapped out of his daze. Seeing Jinyoung and Jisung he remembered what they were doing and fumbled as he tried to quickly answer, "Ah! Uhm.. Well I initially came here to pursue my dream but things... Didn't go as well as I hoped it would. Now I just work in a cafe called Young Wings."

"Young Wings? So you're with Chan." JYP said under his breath. He faced Felix again to ask him.

"So this 'dream' of yours, what was it?" He asked, Felix thought this had suddenly become a therapeutic session, he guessed he needed it after all, someone to talk to about his worries, he also had thought it might help him sort his thoughts out.

"Ah, well, uh.. I had a thing for sports and martial arts from a young age. I even got a third degree black belt some time ago. So I wanted to continue to train here and I was hoping that I could become a trainer or some other related job." Felix replied, fiddling with his fingers.

Jinyoung raised his eyebrows in mild shock as he thought, 'Taekwondo? That's quite the duality.' He had never thought that someone who looked as naive and 'weak' as him would aspire to specialise in an art of fighting.

"Third Degree? Does that mean you're good or bad?" Jisung asked, only for the two to ignore him causing him to pout. He understood that he wasn't wanted in the conversation so he sat with his head hung low, sulkingly.

Jinyoung changed the subject as he asked Felix, "One last thing. Can you show me your eyes?"

Felix, surprised by the sudden request, replied, "Huh? But I am showing my eyes."

JYP chuckled and Jisung laughed out loud. "He means your ghoul eyes, Felix." Jisung said, running out of breath. Felix was embarrassed and mentally slapped himself for forgetting that he's not exactly human anymore. Felix wasn't sure what he had to do to show his ghoul eyes but he tried anyway.

Judging by the other two's reaction, he probably succeeded. It was clear to him that both men were surprised although the expressions were definitely something that he did not expect.

"Woah, Felix! Only one of your eyes is red! That's so cool! How did you do that?" Jisung exclaimed, looking at him with both his eyes and mouth wide open. This was the first time he saw a ghoul that had only one kakugan and he was in as much awe as he was shocked.

Jinyoung, although evidently not as amazed as the awe-struck teen, was still shocked and froze in place as a thought came to his mind, 'Another one?'

"Uh yeah but I don't think it's something I can teach you, Jisung. I'm kind of stuck with only one eye turning red." Felix said laughing awkwardly, making the older teen pout and whine about how mean Felix was being and even started to pretend to sob. The younger seeing the older 'sobbing', started to apologise. Jinyoung smiled a little seeing the two teens interact. The man closed the book shut and once more pressed the back of the pen, catching their attention.

"Alright, that wraps up the measuring part. Since only one of your eyes is red, I'll have to make a custom mask to cover your other one. This will take a while so come back in a few days." JYP finally said, stepping back and moving to grab the wooden chair, planning to immediately go back to work.

Felix looked down seeming to be in a dilemma. He was a bit hesitant, but after coming to a decision he finally spoke up, "Uh.. excuse me, Jinyoung-hyung?"

Jinyoung turned his head at the call, looking at Felix, urging him to go on, "Yes?"

"Can you... Maybe... Not cover up my other eye? I want to ke- You know what nevermind." Felix said, his voice getting smaller the longer he talked before coming to a complete stop, looking down at the floor as though beating himself up for such a stupid thought.

Jinyoung seemed to think for some time as he stared at Felix. He then nodded and smiled, saying, "Of course. In that case, wait here. I think I have just the right mask for you."

Chan was exhausted, not liking the whole mentor thing one bit. Although he had run as fast as he could, he was still late and Minho apparently had gone off somewhere to train by himself. Now, the white-haired investigator had to wait for the said boy to return, sitting on one of the many couches at the far end of the lobby with nothing to do all while the countless other people passing by stared at him weirdly. Due to this, Chan's sufficiently bad mood plummeted even more.

Although he wasn't in the greatest mood, Chan honestly felt more shocked than anything else because while he himself knew that he was almost always late to work, the thought that the upright male would suddenly just leave by himself had not even once crossed his mind. The younger was seemed to be a stickler for formalities and the like so him doing such a thing really came as a surprise. Not only did Minho leave but he left without any prior notice.

Even though he was only assigned as a 'temporary' mentor, the condition of the actual mentor didn't seem to improve and so it wasn't likely that the mentor would take over any time soon so it seems that Chan might mentor him longer than expected. The white-haired investigator really didn't understand what he did to be forced into something he never signed up for.

Not to mention, Minho's behavior didn't help the situation at all. Despite being friendly, Minho still refused to loosen up and see their relationship as anything beyond 'mentor and apprenticeship'. He also unintentionally became a bit rude at times when he was trying to be formal.

Chan knew the male was a nice person, he had seen Minho interact with Jisung many times after all and the two had been nothing else but sweet to one another. Thinking of Jisung, his thoughts slowly strayed away from the original topic as he thought of the two teens that lived with him, 'I wonder what he and Felix up to? Hopefully San can handle any mess that the two end up making. Oh god, please don't let them break the oven again.'

"Sir?" A voice called out, breaking Chan's flow of thoughts. Looking up at the voice Chan saw Minho, standing in front of him with the same firm posture that he was now accustomed to. Chan, seeing the male was suddenly reminded of his bad mood and sighed as he stood up, saying a couple of words in greeting, "Good morning, Minho. I was waiting for you."

"Sir, it's noon and this is the fifth time you've been late this week."

"Right... My bad." Chan said, scratching the back of his head while inwardly scowling at being scolded again. Honestly, with how often he gets scolded by the male, it wasn't odd that most of his colleagues felt that their roles are reversed and that Minho was the teacher instead of him. Chan himself actually felt the same, often questioning who the teacher was between them.

"Are you ready?" Chan asked, trying to quickly change the topic.

Minho of course answered almost immediately, "By all means, sir."

Chan nodded and was about to leave for the training grounds with Minho when he heard the younger ask, "Excuse me, sir. I have to ask, where is your quinque?"

Chan froze in his tracks, his eyes widened, "My quinque?"

"Yes."

Snapping out of his momentary confusion he sprinted to the exit as he shouted to Minho,"Oh my god! I must have left it back at home! I'll be right back."

Just as he was about to leave the building, a security guard who was standing beside the RC-Cell detector called his name, "Chan!" Chan looked towards the person who had called him only to see a familiar face who was holding up a silver briefcase. Seeing the man holding the briefcase Chan immediately ran over to him.

The man handed him the briefcase with a smile on his face, laughing as he said, "I was just about to search for you. Sejeong came by and told me to give you this. Well, not exactly since she literally threw this at me and left just like that, barely giving me a wave. Honestly, I don't know how you keep finding these types of people."

"Thanks Jackson Hyung." Chan said, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the nape of his neck as he took the briefcase with his other hand, continuing, " Honestly, I don't really know either."

'Maybe God just decided to poke fun at me this way.'

Chan sighed at the thought of the people he's encountered. Remembering some of the more unique characters, he fell into an endless stream of thoughts. Only broken out of it when Jackson nudged him and asked, "By the way, I noticed you were waiting in the lobby for someone. Have you met that person yet?"

Chan, who suddenly remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing slapped his forehead as he sprinted back, exclaiming, "Oh my god Minho is still waiting for me! Bye Hyung!"

~*~*~*~*~

A few hours later, it was late into the day and two teenagers could be seen stepping out of a door at the end of an alley, both wearing masks. One had bright, orange hair and the other had ash blonde hair.

As the two males slowly walked to the end of the alley, they came across a closed store with reflective glass panels. Felix looked at the glass window to see his reflection. The mask was split into two halves separated by a large crack that went all the way down the centre of the mask. Almost imitating the image of an actual face being pulled apart, a dense forest of red strings kept the two sides together looking like red muscles and tendons.

The right side was made of a white bone like material having two perpendicular cuts that cut through the centre of the eye socket. The mouth like carving on the bottom of the mask was upturned into what seemed to be a smirk. The left side of the mask was completely opposite to the right being made of a black latex-like material and having a downturned mouth forming a frown. The left side had a cross like image on the eye socket although not at all covering the opening.

It was a relatively simple design that was based off of a jester's mask although not even close to being as extravagant looking. Felix didn't know why Jinyoung had made such a mask for him. Jisung had told him after he got the mask that masks were made based on Jinyoung's thoughts on a person's character or based on the request of the person themselves. He wondered about the meaning behind the design.

He touched his cheek feeling the material. He wasn't used to wearing a mask which covered his whole face but he was willing to use it if it prevented 'them' from recognizing him. It would grant him that little bit of freedom that he always wanted so he might as well get used to it.

Beside him was Jisung who was similarly wearing a mask. His mask had a much more complicated design in comparison with intricate details placed all over. Two long segmented pipes came out from his right temple connecting to the gas mask-like mouthpiece that took up the entire bottom half of the mask.

There were circular openings rimmed with metal and covered with a tough material akin to glass for his eyes. The two circles were then connected to one another by two small metal strips that also went around Jisung's entire head, securing the mask from slipping off.

On the upper left side of the mask, metal puzzle-like pieces were placed adding on to the mask's design. The entire mask looked as though it had once been coated by gold before the coating had been gradually worn away over time, leaving behind sporadic spots of faded yellowish gold-like coatings on the mask. In the places that lacked the golden coat a metallic sheen is seen and some parts had even started to rust. Overall the mask had an ancient feel to it.

Apparently, the older had left it the last time he came to visit Jinyoung, indirectly implying that he often visits the mask shop. Felix questioned the reason as to why the male did so but decided not to question it due to how tired he felt. He didn't really feel up to listening to the older ranting anytime soon so he didn't want to give the older a reason to.

Considering how late it was, the sky being practically pitch black with only the moon lighting it up, San hyung had certainly closed the cafe long ago. This caused Felix to become slightly scared of how the ale may react to their sudden disappearance. Just the thought of being scolded by the male and possibly even Chan made him beg Jisung for them to call it a day and head back home.

The orange haired male however insisted that they should 'explore' the town a bit more and just like his previous attempts, Felix wasn't able to convince him to do otherwise. Eventually giving up he decided to go with it since he couldn't do much anyway. He didn't think his other hyung would appreciate him leaving Jisung and walking on the streets alone in the middle of the night.

Considering what happened the last couple of times he did, he wasn't sure he wanted to regardless. So Felix grudgingly followed the older teen all the while dreading the scolding both of them will get from their not-so-newly-assigned caretaker, San and of course their hyung, Chan. The blonde was especially worried for himself since Chan always thought of him as the "more responsible one" between them which meant that he would likely get into more trouble.

Even with his never ending worries and exhaustion, Felix was actually enjoying finally being able to see what Seoul actually looks like. For once he wasn't in any imminent danger and even if he was this time he had someone he trusted with him so he relished in the moment.

Obviously since he and Jisung are wearing masks, easily showing that they are ghouls, they can't stroll around in the middle of the streets so he and Jisung jumped onto the building from the alley and proceeded to roam the city by jumping from building to building for a little while before heading back.

Felix, who was at first frightened at the thought of travelling in such a manner, had tried to do so after being encouraged by Jisung and quickly became amazed how far he could now jump. It was unusual to be able to get to the roofs of buildings in one leap after all. While being a ghoul now he was originally human so the thought had never really crossed his mind until now.

When they were near the cafe, the two dropped down to the alleyway a few streets down from the cafe. They still had to walk the rest of the way there and as such were about to store their mask away when a tall figure walked towards them. The male stood right in front of them as he looked towards the two teen's direction and stared at them.

The tall figure was dressed somewhat professionally, wearing a long, white coat with a black turtleneck underneath. His hair was dark long and curled at the edges, his eyes a warm earthy color and a mole just below his left eye, his face sharp. He was a very handsome young male but Jisung and Felix's attention was elsewhere. In the figure's hand was a silver briefcase that the two were all too familiar with.

The man was an investigator. 


	14. Chronosaurus

The three men exchanged looks without saying a word. Two of the men were dressed in dark clothes and the other in a long, white coat creating a contrast. All three stood in the middle of a dark alley with the moonlight being the only source of light in the dark night. The two dark clothed men stood still, tension slowly building in their bodies as their minds sprinted to figure out what they should do.

Finally, the man in the white coat was the first to make a move, looking away, making a hand gesture for them to leave as he said, "Run along. I don't want to deal with you people right now. You're not worth my time."

One of the masked men was taken aback, tension visibly releasing. The blonde evidently didn't expect to be let go so easily - even more so by a man who was an investigator. The thought of meeting one hadn't even crossed his mind so the fact that one was letting him leave scott free was shocking.

He stood in place, tension slowly building once again as he hesitated and silently questioned what to do. The man could be bluffing and potentially stab them behind their backs as they were leaving. He gazed into the man's eyes and what he saw although shocking had assured him. The man was incredibly calm, his eyes soft as he looked at them, showing no signs of attacking and his eyes seemed to scream to Felix the words the man couldn't say, 'God just please leave!'

Seeing this, Felix had come to the conclusion that the man in the white cloak was being sincere with his words. However just as he was going to leave, he found out that the elder teen beside him had felt otherwise. Although, what the older had said in reply made it clear that the older was against leaving for an entirely different reason altogether.

"Yah! What do you mean not worth your time?! Are you saying we're weak?! How dare you! I'll have you know that I'm worth more than your time could ever dream to be!" Jisung exclaimed, his voice raspier and more muffled than usual.

As Felix had learnt earlier from the older, this voice was the result of a small device that Jinyoung had installed on the mask to help him hide his human identity. Seeing how Jisung is always loud, boisterous and full of things to say, Felix found it to be an ingenious idea on Jinyoung's part to have thought of it.

The investigator sighed as he turned back to face the two ghouls, his expression slowly turning serious. Felix started to panic upon seeing the man's expression changing causing him to start violently shaking Jisung's shoulder. The other however didn't seem bothered by it and instead became even more enraged, nearly lunging at the man if Felix hadn't held the angry teen back in time.

Felix was trying to calm Jisung down but unfortunately it had no effect. The younger panicked, confused. He couldn't stop Jisung forever, the older was much stronger than him but if he didn't he would fight the investigator who hadn't done anything to them at all. The older kept thrashing in his hold, trying to break free.

"Hm? Ah. Chronosaurus, class S. Your friend seems new. I've never seen him before." The investigator said.

"C-corona what?" Felix said, facing Jisung who had suddenly stopped his thrashing when he heard the man recognise him.

"Not now, Lix." Jisung said, whispering.

Jisung then straightened himself up as Felix nodded and released his hold on the older, making sure he was calmer now. Jisung flipped his non-existent hair over his shoulder, confidently saying, "I see that you know me. For that I'll spare your life. I must be famous, huh?"

The investigator instantly rolled his eyes and mockingly replied, "Well, I'm not the ghoul who stormed into the CCG building and threatened a civilian just to make us change your name from 'Time Beast'."

"W-well at least I don't make horrible names!" Jisung exclaimed, slightly embarrassed.

"At least I'm not dumb." The man taunted, clearly annoyed by the other.

Hearing the man insulting him, Jisung immediately exploded in anger, completely forgetting his embarrassment, "Yah! At least I don't wear a stupid white robe every single day, don't you ever get bored?!"

The investigator's gaze turned sharp at the ghoul's words, his grip on his suitcase tightening. He grinded his teeth together in irritation as he harshly replied, "You! Now you're getting on my nerves."

Felix stood still, confused at the sudden turn of events and silently watched the two argue . By the time he realized that it had gone too far, it was already too late and the two were glaring daggers at one another. He still tried to separate the two, quickly stepping in and trying to drag the growling Jisung away.

"Come on Su- I mean Co-Chrono- Ah whatever! Let's just go." Felix said, desperately struggling to drag the older away.

"Stay quiet. Hyung knows what he's doing. I'll take this arrogant streetlight down in a few seconds." Jisung said, gaze locked on the male in the white coat as he broke away from Felix's grip.

"Tch." Hyunjin scoffed, looking away before continuing to retort as he stared straight at Jisung, "Sure you don't want to listen to blondie over there? Plus a dwarf like you? Defeating me? Don't make me laugh, you midget."

Hearing this Jisung got even angrier, face becoming flushed. The teen went into a fit of rage, shouting at the male as he stomped his right foot on the ground harshly, "You're not even that much taller! Y-you- You- Giraffe!"

"You're an idiot. Calling me a giraffe proves that I'm just that much taller." the male said, rolling his eyes.

Jisung's mouth fell open in shock and embarrassment. He rushed to think of a good comeback but couldn't think of anything causing him to sputter, rendered speechless. His embarrassment made the older feel even angrier and he immediately gave up on trying to fight with words and chose to fight physically instead.

Jisung suddenly released his tail-like kagune and lunged at the investigator, startling Felix who had been concernedly standing next to him. The sudden movement caused the younger to take a step back and when he realised what the elder was doing, Felix softly cursed at the elder's irrational actions.

Jisung surged forward, stabbing his bikaku towards the investigator. The man stayed in his place and pressed on the button handle of the suitcase, throwing it into the air behind him. He took the hit, using the force the ghoul hit him with to propel himself backwards. Landing on the ground behind him he skidded backwards, ending up with a hand on the ground. The man looked up at the ghoul taunting him with his confident smirk. He calmly stood up and caught the quinque that had materialized in the air with his hand.

A massive weapon that had a robust metallic sheen, a deepthroat crimson red - a quinque made from a ghoul's kakuhou. A long segmented rod with an axe, enabled it to detach and reassemble at will. The rod itself was long, perhaps even taller than the man wielding it. The rod had different shades of red that seemed to continuously shift, much like a ghoul's kagune, and on each end of the rod were razor sharp double-edged blades.

It's sharp edge gleamed in the moonlight alongside it's wielder's eyes, sending shivers racking down Felix's spine as Jisung gradually started to tense up. A two handed pole weapon - a halberd. The weapon allowed for one to stab quickly using its pointed ends, much like a spear, however at the same time one could choose to use it with brute force by slamming the axe head on the enemy like an axe. A weapon that lets its user switch its usage freely, according to any unforeseen circumstance.

The man slowly lowered down the quinque before dusting the dirt off of his shoulder with his free hand. He proceeded to roll his shoulder, cracking his neck as he laughed. The man abruptly clenched his laughter and stared into the infuriated ghoul's eyes as he taunted him, "That's the best you can do?"

Jisung narrowed his eyes, crouching down and leaped towards the man. He quickly reached the man, slashing him using his kagune and the ghoul twisted his body along with the tail-like extension, utilising his entire weight to attack. The investigator instantly stepped aside as he used his quinque to block the attack.

The two continued to go back and forth in a fast paced battle, both being equally powerful, because although the ghoul had more strength, the investigator made up for what he lacked in his strength with his impeccable technique with precision and accuracy.

Felix watched as the two fought, taking a wary few steps back, not wanting to get caught up in the battle's crossfire. It would be more helpful to Jisung if he were farther away as it is, he was nothing more than a burden to the older in this situation and he knew that very well. Despite it not being his first time to see a fight between a ghoul and an investigator, he was still very impressed and in awe with the equity as the two go neck and neck in an intense battle of wits, agility and dexterity.

He couldn't predict who would win between the two, but for his own sake, he really hoped Jisung would be the one to emerge victorious. Chan would definitely not be happy if one of them became a weapon and did not make it back to the cafe tonight. It was bad enough that they're late but combined with the fact that one of them got injured? That was one conversation Felix did not want to have.

Jisung, cooled down from his pent up rave, giving way for his more rational thoughts as his train of thought widened bit by bit, focusing on his breathing, paying attention to even the slightest moves of his opponent, who was not to be taken for granted. Immediately lunged back and stopped for a brief moment, trying his best to analyze his opponent in the immensely scarce time he had and was frustrated to find no openings in his defence. Just as he was about to jump back into the fight and slash with a huge blow, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

He grabbed his navel with both his hands, crouching down as a whimper of pain escaped his mouth. Felix instantly ran towards him, concerned. Jisung, aware that an enemy was still in front of them, tried to stand up however the pain wouldn't let him do so as he collapsed onto the ground. On the brink of losing his consciousness, mustering for even an ounce of his strength back as he struggled furiously.

Felix was panicking and constantly fidgeted in his place, not knowing what to do. The investigator,still in shock, frozen in confusion and feeling of being overwhelmed -just a tad bit- , taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

After mustering what little strength he could, Jisung managed to utter out a few words, "T-too.. much...che-cheese..cake."

Felix's face immediately turned scandalous as he questioned the elder, disbelief clear in his voice, "Did you eat the entire stock of cheesecake again?!"

"Uh.. no?" Jisung replied timidly as the pain started to recede.

The investigator, who heard their ongoing conversation, was very much confused and fell into a strange train of thoughts, 'Cheesecake? But ghouls can't eat human food. Is that a codename for a drug? Wait no what?'

The man quickly shook his head, forcing himself out of his thoughts and refocused on the ghoul he was fighting with. He stepped forward, gripping his quinque tightly as he said, "Well, since your friend is.. struggling. I might as well take advantage of it and deal with both of you right now. It would save me the time and effort."

He slowly got back into his battle stance, approaching Felix and Jisung getting ready to attack the two. Through the man's actions, it was clear that he didn't think that Felix was much of a threat since the man was more than capable enough of just rushing forward and attacking at a moments notice.

Felix was lost and didn't know what to do. While he knows how to fight, the investigator has an actual sharp weapon that can probably cut through him like paper and since the man was an investigator he was likely to have had combat training before anyways.

The fact that he hasn't eaten any legitimate 'food' since he became a ghoul didn't help either. He had never been in his best condition which was most probably because he had only been drinking coffee with an insane amount of sugar. It may have quenched his hunger but it did little to nothing in terms of actually nourishing him.

To be honest, he knew that even if he didn't want to, he would eventually have to eat if he wanted to stay alive. Even if it meant his Ghoul self had to break free and force him to stuff it down his throat out of pure instinct.

He looked at the investigator as such thoughts plagued his mind. The longer he stared at the investigator however the more prominent a certain thought or rather voice started to echo, 'Eat. Human. Eat. Flesh. Human. Food. Food. Food.'

The thought of eating made his stomach grumble as his mouth started to salivate. Felix was getting more and more hungry with each passing second while the investigator was getting closer and closer.

In the past week or so of staying in Seoul, never once had the thought about eating flesh crossed his mind. Why now? He continued to look at the approaching investigator, his breathing started to deepen, thoughts raging, 'He's fully human. He has flesh. He's food.'

As his thoughts continued Felix turned away, clamped his mouth shut and held himself back as much as he could. He continued to fight the growing hunger within him. 'Must.. resist..'

'Agh! I can't take it anymore!' He thought as he lost control and was about to charge at the man.

Before he did however, a short dark figure suddenly dropped down from above, landing right in between Felix and the investigator , facing the two distraught ghouls. The figure was dressed simply wearing black jeans, a leather jacket, an open light blue striped button up with a plain white shirt underneath and most noticeably a mask.

His mask was pure white and had a simple yet menacing design. The bottom half of the mask had sharp gruesome teeth with two long canines which reminded Felix of a saber tooth almost but unlike the said animal the canines were not long enough to extend past the chin. The upper half of the mask was plain devoid of anything but cracks. The mask near completely covered the figure's face only revealing his eyes. Both of which had a familiar pitch black sclera and bright red irises.

Everyone was shocked by the sudden appearance but the man thought that the new individual was probably a friend of the two ghouls and was the first of the three to come back to his senses. He smirked as he once again mocked the ghouls, "Oh my, another one of you midgets. I thought you were worth my time? Considering that there needs to be three of you for one of me, you might want to take that back."

He then looked straight at the figure that had just appeared and said, "Oh and you. Be careful, I might accidentally step on your tiny fragile body and kill you. I don't like it if the fight is too easy, it would be much too boring."

The mysterious figure made no comment but his body visibly stiffened as his head turned around abruptly, his eyes glinting sharply showing that he was not at all pleased with the investigators' words. The man scanned the ghoul's mask and hummed in slight confusion as he muttered a few lines under his breath, "Hm? You also seem new. What's up with that? Doesn't matter, I'll just report this back to HQ after."

The man charged forward and attacked the ghoul but failed to land a hit as the ghoul easily avoided it by stepping aside. The man noticed the ghoul's swift movements and narrowed his eyes as he analysed the figure, 'Ukaku? Or maybe a ghoul above B class?'

The ghoul and the investigator stood still scanning one another. After a few seconds, sharp crystals that formed a wing-like structure appeared on the ghoul's shoulder.

'An Ukaku it is.' the man thought as the ghoul lunged forward. The man now knew that the ghoul's speed was likely due to him having an Ukaku and prepared himself to have a long fight. Ukakus are fast but they have low stamina and thus they tend to fight from a distance or when forced, they use quick short jabs instead of hard hitting punches like other ghoul types. The man was confident and felt that as long as he was able to occupy the ghoul for some time he'll soon have the upper hand and win.

To his surprise however, the ghoul moved at irregular speeds even for ukaku type ghouls and reached him in a matter of 2 seconds, hitting him with a massive force which sent him flying backwards as the ghoul launched multiple feathers afterwards. The man had managed to block the initial blow but failed to intercept all the projectiles, one having cut his cheek and drawing out blood.

The ghoul stood silently in between the two groups, looking down concedingly at the investigator as his eyes glowed in the terrifying blood red eyes glowed in dark. Slowly the crystal feathers behind the ghoul liquified and the wings behind him seemed to catch fire, a dark red flame that silently flickered back and forth. The ghoul then tilted his head to the side slightly as though taunting him to continue attacking.

Seeing this, the man gritted his teeth in frustration. The ghoul was much much more powerful than he initially thought. With this knowledge in mind he quickly thought of the possible outcomes if he were to continue and none of the resultant outcomes he thought of seemed to be in his favour. The best possible outcome would of course be him successfully killing the ghoul but even then it was most likely he'd be heavily injured afterwards leaving him vulnerable to the two others behind him.

There was a clear difference in their raw strength. One that couldn't be overcome by technique. The ghoul hadn't even used his full power yet if his now flame-like wings were any indication. Knowing this, the man was not stubborn, immediately backed down and quickly left the scene.

The investigator had run away from the fight but the ghoul made no move to chase after him and retracted his kagune, flames dissipating and crystals forming once more before disappearing completely. Instead he turned back and faced the two ghouls behind him, scanning both their figures. After doing so, he looked straight into Felix's eyes causing the boy to gasp slightly in fear. The ghoul's eyes seemed to turn somewhat bitter at the reaction and merely nodded at the boy before leaving the scene as well.

Felix and Jisung, who was in Felix's arms, looked at the ghoul's retreating back. Both the teens stayed silent trying to process everything that had happened. After a few minutes, Felix broke the silence, softly asking, "Do you know him?"

"Nope, I've never seen him." Jisung answered.

Deciding not to take any longer they both quickly looked around and took off their mask like they had originally intended to and rushed to return to the cafe. As soon as they walked through the door that connected the cafe to the house behind, they saw San standing there.

His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyebrows were furrowed. San was visibly and understandably upset at both the teens. The older sighed and shook his head, making a hand gesture towards the two, telling them to follow him which they did towards the dining room.

Afterwards he made them sit down on the chairs and left the room to look for a chair for himself and sat down, quietly watching the two. Felix immediately looked down in shame as though not daring to look the older in the eyes, indirectly accepting and admitting what the two had done to be his fault. The teen was completely silent and didn't even bring up the fact that the older teen had basically forced him into leaving when he hadn't wanted to in the first place.

Jisung, seeing Felix's reaction, felt guilty and stood up for the younger, "It wasn't his fault. I made him go out."

San turned to Felix in question, "Felix?"

Felix nodded causing Jisung to immediately exclaim, "See! It was all me!"

"That doesn't change much. Do you know how...," with that, San went on and on as he ranted on how Chan had left him 'in charge' or in other words to basically 'babysit' them, as the white-haired ghoul had put it, and that both boys should've been more responsible as adults to which Jisung fought back exclaiming, "Ahah! That's where you're wrong! We're teens, we don't have to be responsible adults!"

San instantly turned his head towards Jisung and glared, to which the younger noticed and made the boy go quiet as he began to play with his fingers. Seeing both boys now looking downtrodden, the one-year older ghoul sighed before softly asking them where they've been and what they had done.

Jisung perked up at the question and excitedly started to go on narrating all the things that had happened in as much detail as he could, eyes sparkling as he talked about them getting Felix's mask. When he was angrily talking about the 'stupid' investigator they encountered, the older teen's stomach started to grumble. Jisung proceeded to swiftly end his sentence, cutting the story short as he looked at San, continuing in the same story-like manner to say, "In the midst of having fun and nearly dying, we have yet to have lunch or dinner."

San sighed once more at this but still let it go, "I'm not going to tell Chan hyung about this. But I hope there won't be a next time. Or else."

Both boys nodded, although one more vigorously than the other.

"Good." San replied, leaving to prepare food for the teens although it was more a drink in Felix's case - just as he learned from Chan.

~*~*~*~*~

Around half an hour later, the back door opened and Chan walked in to see the two ghouls who were cuddled up in the living room and watching some drama on the TV. Seeing the cuddle fest going on, Chan, being the koala he is, jumped in to join them. Jisung immediately started complaining due to the added weight on top of him causing Chan to pout and whine in return.

Looking at Chan's expression, the two ghouls couldn't help but snicker before bursting out into a fit of laughter. With that, the three spent the rest of the night talking, spending time and burning the midnight oil, until the last spark of flame diminished to pitch darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! liked the update? 
> 
> not sure if we've mentioned it before but our updating schedule is indefinitely on mondays and/or fridays.
> 
> depending on our progress of completing the chapters, we update according to the quota set for the week.
> 
> just know that some weeks we may upload late and it may result in an upload on a different day of the week, it's an inconsistent system but we've been following it since the start of publishing this story so it's not any different than usual but we're just letting you know the algorithm since we've gotten some comments saying that they had assumed we had forgotten about the story and that they were happy that we updated.
> 
> but anyway hope that clears up some stuff, in case you ever wanna reach out and tell us about any feedback you got from the story or just even communicate as a friend, you can contact us on wattpad by the user @milkyeong or @imlenaaaaa on instagram (i'm author number 3 hehe)
> 
> anyway, hope you enjoy reading and stick around with us for a long time <3


	15. It’s him!

It was very early in the morning and the streets were silent with no one to be seen. In an alleyway in the slums of the city a metal shutter opened, accompanied by wretched squeaking sounds as a young innocent-looking teen walked out, carrying a backpack over his shoulder. He wore a white dress shirt underneath a black low cut sweater, a dark grey single crest suit jacket with a logo on the collar, slacks of the same color alongside a pair of black socks and white sneakers - a typical highschool uniform - and a plain black pitta face.

Following behind him was a similarly young but taller male wearing a white collared shirt, black tie, a beige sleeveless sweater that had a bordered white v-neck, and dark grey slacks. The taller teen also had a long beige overcoat, a light brown newsboy hat and a black sling bag over his shoulder. After both the teens made their way out, the taller teen turned back to close the shutter, locking it behind him.

The alley was devoid of human life, the only thing in the entire street being the shutters they had just come from. Newspaper, flyers, boxes and the like were scattered all around the place – some mouldy and others getting slowly rotting. The entire street was filthy, rats and cockroaches infesting the place.

Walking down the alley many thoughts rushed into the taller teen, a week or two had passed and yet they were still unable to find any trace of that one human, even with his undeniably 'unique' scent. They were restricted since the Investigator, Bang Chan, might do something to them since they had tried to hurt one of his friends. It didn't really affect Seungmin that much since he was wearing a mask that night.

However, Jeongin was in immediate danger since he wasn't wearing one that night. It hadn't been necessary to wear a mask before that night since Seungmin was confident that he could successfully kill any human that Jeongin would bait in for him and now they were paying dearly due to it.

It wouldn't be hard for the Investigator to track Jeongin down considering he had CCG supporting him and while they could go into hiding Jeongin had school and it would raise suspicion if he had suddenly disappeared. So all they could really do was buy as much time as they could and hope that they could find the other party before they found him and Jeongin.

Jeongin had to wear a mask at all times outside of their home although they had to make an exception for when he's in school since regulations did not permit the use of masks within classrooms. At the very least, not when he's not ill, and unknowing of how long any of this would take, they decided it was best if he didn't pretend to be sick. It would be unusual to have an incredibly long lasting cold.

While Seungmin was lost in thought the two teens had arrived at the school gates. Jeongin took off his mask, revealing a plaster on his left cheek covering the scratch he had gotten from the skirmish that night.

Although it was a Saturday, Jeongin had elective club activities this week and while neither he or any other attending students liked these club activities, he had taken them. They were given the choice to join them at the beginning of the year and those who joined would have their scores boosted as they would also have more assignments, tests and the like to make up for any bad scores.

It wasn't like he had wanted the extra work since he felt that he would be fine with or without them but Seungmin managed to convince him otherwise. The older had practically guilt tripped him into it, saying he should take as much as he could from the school since the older worked hard to put him in it. Jeongin knew that the older male had done it for his sake.

For him, it was clear to see that the older hoped that he would have a better life than to live in abandoned carriages, acting as bait and risking his life every night. The teen cared for him too much for it. Jeongin on the other hand didn't mind the way they lived now, it was much better than it had been for him in the past, but the older didn't seem to be on the same page.

"Agh, I can't breathe with this stupid thing on. How do you even wear yours for so long?" the younger asked with a clearly annoyed look on his face.

The older smiled and laughed at this, patting his head as he changed the topic, not forgetting to remind the younger about what they had agreed on, "I'll see you later this afternoon. Don't go anywhere outside the school gate."

Jeongin rolled his eyes jokingly, smirking as he replied, "I know, I will."

The younger's figure walks out of sight, weaving through people as he enters the school campus, waving his hand behind him as he does so. After making sure the younger teen had gone, Seungmin left and made his way down to where the publishing house he worked for was located.

Eventually he stopped in front of a tall building at the corner of the street. The building was at the very least eight stories high with the first two levels being completely visible since the walls were made entirely of glass, being supported by the few black metal frames and the concrete pillars inside. From the next floor onwards, the glass used was smaller and had a protruding white metal frame that grew thicker with each story, separating the glass panes.

The building was separated into two sides by a segmented beige wall in the centre. On both sides of the building were nearly identical only that the right side was taller than the left, the building being uneven and thus the right side had nine floors instead of the eight on the left.

Finally arriving at work, Seungmin bowed at the receptionists in greeting as he took out his card from his undervest shirt pocket, scanning it as he made his way through the gate next to the front desk. He put the card back inside and took the elevator to the sixth floor.

Like the rest of the floors in the building with the exception of the top two floors, the sixth floor was divided into two sections by the thin wall that was present behind the wall which the assistants sat and worked. As each side had a different team occupying it, on the glass doors on the left and right of the desk were intricately carved metal plates with each team name on it to prevent confusion.

Upon exiting the elevator, Seungmin approached the staff sitting behind this floor's front desk, smiling as he greeted her and handed her the article he was working on from the day before. He then got back into the elevator moving to the floor above, walking to his desk on the right side of the building.

He bowed in greeting to all the staff members whose work stations he passed by, not saying much apart from a simple good day to you. He sat down on his desk, stretching his arms above his head as he switched on his computer. As he waited for the computer to switch on he went through the stack of files on his desk. He proceeded to work on some minor articles that he was assigned, his eyes, hands and mind fully focused on completing the task as fast as he could while making sure to ensure a good quality.

After a few hours of relentless work, he looked around to see the office near devoid of people. He looked at the clock which hung on the wall and seeing as it was his lunch break, he decided to take a short break only to be called to his attending supervisor's office.

Seungmin, being a ghoul, didn't mind having to forgo his lunch seeing as he wouldn't eat anyway and without any complaints he left his desk. He quickly made his way to the eighth floor, walking down a long hallway before stopping at the office at the end of the hall. He knocked on the wooden door, standing in front of the door as he waited for a reply from the other side.

Hearing the person on the other side telling him to come in, he quickly did so, closing the door behind him. The room was simple, having a single desk and a leather armchair with a full span window behind it however despite the simplicity of the furniture in the room, it was incredibly messy with stacks of papers lying around on the floor.

On the chair sat a single male figure, his supervisor, the current head journalist. The man had a rather unusual look for someone of such a high stature as can be seen from his dark blue mullet, multiple silver earrings and his slit right eyebrow. In contrast to his otherwise unconventional look however the blue-haired man wore a classic black suit excluding wasn't wearing the suit jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair and thin rimmed glasses perched on top of his nose bridge.

The man basically glaring at the paper he held in his hands with his dark black eyes as he read it causing Seungmin to stand in silence, waiting for the male to start speaking. After a few minutes the male set down the paper in his hands onto the table as he sighed and started to speak, "Seungmin-ah, you're here. Sorry for disturbing you during your lunch break. Hope you're not hungry."

"It's fine, Hongjoong hyung. I.. had a heavy breakfast this morning." He said, laying his hand on his abdomen appearing full and satisfied.

"Good to hear that. Oh, before I tell you what I called you here for,I just want to thank you for getting information for my last article, you really are a big help around here!" Hongjoong said with gratitude.

"It's nothing. Anyways, what did you call me for?" Seungmin asked.

"An interview? With who?" Jeongin said as he slurped down a whole cup of spicy ramen noodles. He had finished his school activities and Seungmin picked him up from his school, taking him to a ramen shop nearby for lunch. Although the smell of ramen broth and fried dumplings made Seungmin feel nauseous, he willingly endured it for the sake of his human companion.

"Mm, hyung said it was the owner of an uprising cafe. Some people that reviewed the place said they have really tasty coffee. I might buy some while I'm there." Seungmin said as he looked at the notes he had written down when he researched about the place earlier on at work.

Jeongin nodded, putting a piece of chicken into his mouth before freezing as he remembered something. "Ah! I think I know the place. One of my friends at school told me about that and said their cakes are really good too. Can I come along with you?" He said enthusiastically.

Seungmin shook his head as a pout formed, showcasing how sad and guilty he felt as he replied, "Sorry, Innie. The cafe is pretty close to where we had the fight and that Investigator is most likely still searching around that area. I don't think it's safe for you to go even with your mask on. I'm really sorry...."

He looked at the floor with a heavy heart, eyebrows scrunching up as his hands clenched tightly under the table. He had never and probably will never tell Jeongin this but he felt that it was his fault for letting the younger get hurt. Not only that but his overconfidence had unknowingly taken away the younger's freedom to roam around as well.

Jeongin looked at the older's face and although he didn't understand what exactly was going on in the older's mind, he could see that something was bothering him. Thinking about it he realised that the older must feel bad for prohibiting him from going.

Knowing this, he placed the chopsticks he had in hand and reached out to hold Seungmin's hand, reassuring him as he said, "It's fine hyung, I'm not upset. I know you're doing this because you're worried about me. I'll just wait back at home."

The tension in Seungmin's body released at the younger's assurance as he smiled softly, looking at Jeongin as he replied, "Okay."

Jeongin smiled back as he started to joke around, threatening the older, "You better buy some cake and coffee for me though!"

Seungmin however didn't seem to take it as a joke and nodded seriously. The younger froze in shock not expecting the older to be so serious about it. The two then stared at one another for a few moments before bursting out in laughter, smiling as they continued their chatter.

Soon, Jeongin finished his food and the two teens made their way back home. Upon arriving, Jeongin unlocked the shutter, walking through as he looked at Seungmin and smiled once more, gleefully sending off the older teen, "See you later, Hyung!"

Afterwards, the younger ran down the stairs and nearly slipped due to the dust causing the older to shout, "Ya! Be careful!" Jeongin raised his hand in an okay symbol as he continued to rush down.

Seungmin sighed in exasperation when he saw this, closing the shutter behind him as he left for the nearest bus stop. He waited for some time before getting on the bus that would take him to the station by the cafe. Sitting on a seat in the back, he gathered his thoughts and looked through the questions he had prepared for the interview as the bus moved towards the next stop.

According to research, the manager was quite a friendly person so he hoped it won't be too much of a hassle to interview said person and if possible, the owner as well. He really wouldn't want Jeongin to be at home alone for too long. Who knows what might happen while he wasn't with the younger?

Passing a few stations, the bus had finally reached his stop. He got off and looked at the open map on his phone. Following the instructions, he passed by a few familiar streets before reaching the cafe.

'So this is the cafe. Jeongin would've loved this place.' Seungmin thought, silently nodding to himself as he looked at the cafe. It had a minimalistic design but it was still very elegant and modern, evidently much better looking than most of the cafes he's seen before.

He really liked the vibe that the cafe gave off. If the food was as good as people said, he could definitely understand why the cafe had been receiving a lot of attention lately. He opened his bag and took out a small camera, snapping a few pictures so that he could use them in the article if he managed to successfully get an interview with the owner.

Carefully placing the camera back in its place inside his bag, he opened the clear glass door to be greeted by the mindless chatter of the customers and the wonderful scent of coffee. However, there was a stronger scent that towered over the coffee, catching his attention immediately as his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, welcome to 'Young Wings'!" greeted a familiar blonde-haired teen who was smiling brightly, having just finished cleaning up a table.

Seungmin froze in his place before taking a step back, as multiple alarms rang in his mind, 'It's him!'


	16. Interview

Seungmin quickly came back to his senses as he wryly smiled back at the blonde, his fingers twitching. He slowly walked towards the counter, his body tensing up at having the possible threat behind him yet being unable to do anything to protect his open back. Arriving at the counter, he saw a person squatting down, trying to take a pastry from display, his head shaking a bit.

It was a man with black hair and a white parting on his left side, the person was crouched behind the counter, filling up the display cases; he was dressed in the same attire as the blonde teen and Seungmin assumed the male was a staff member. He called out to the male, angling his head over the counter to face the male, "Excuse me."

The person's head movement stopped, he took his hand out of the display and looked up. Locking eyes with the male, the staff member smiled as he stood up and clasped his hands together asking, "Yes, how can I help? Would you like to order?"

Just as Seungmin was about to answer the male, he noticed someone walking out of what he assumed to be the kitchen, carrying a pink, plastic basin. The staff member in question wore the same uniform as the other workers with the only difference being the vibrant cyan silicone gloves and the black beanie that he had on.

Oddly enough, he found the male's figure to be rather familiar - as though he had met the male before. After catching a glimpse of his face, he realized that the staff was the investigator that he had met that night.

Amidst his surprise and growing fear, Seungmin was confused as well and a thousand thoughts flashed through his mind, 'Bang Chan?! First the human and now him?! What is he doing here?!'

Despite having his hands twitching ecstatically at the thought of killing Chan, he didn't rush in. Instead he was fighting himself within his thoughts, trying his best to calm down. He wouldn't and couldn't do anything now. There were too many people watching. It wasn't worth it.

Knowing the situation he was in, he remained calm and decided to wait before he acted. He spent weeks looking for the man. He could wait a few more days or even months if it meant that he could successfully kill the man. He had always been a rational person and he wasn't about to stop now.

Choosing to ignore the elephant in the room he stayed silent and watched as the investigator walked back. A cough snapped him out of his thoughts and he returned the smile to the ebony-haired male, "Right, sorry I was a bit lost in thought."

San smiled and nodded in understanding, gesturing for the journalist to continue. Seungmin, naturally, responded, "I'm a journalist. I was wondering if I could interview the manager and the owner for an article. It would be great if you could get both but if only one is available that's also fine."

The male seemed ecstatic at Seungmin's words, clasping his hands together once more as his eyes widened, exclaiming, "Of course! It would be our pleasure. Just give me a second."

"Felix!" the male hollered the blonde waiter over, continuing, "Show our customer to an empty table for me."

Felix turned to look in the older's direction, giving a bright smile and nodded upon hearing the older's request, quickly settling the rest of the orders before happily skipping over to lead Seungmin to a seat at the corner of the cafe beside a window.

Seungmin being left alone, let his mind wonder as his eyes narrowed in confusion. His lips turned downwards as he fell into a daze thinking about the beanie-adorning male, 'Was that really Bang Chan? What is he doing here? It doesn't make sense that he's working at a cafe either. What's going on here?'

As he waited, he saw the ever so familiar investigator appear from the door behind the counter. It threw him off however when he realised that the male, who was no longer bringing around his 'eye-catching' plastic basin or using his 'striking' rubber gloves, was actually approaching the table he was seated on.

The young journalist couldn't help but panic for a second, thinking that the said male had realized who he really was and was, of course, coming to act on that information; threatening him, harming him - none of those seemed to be something too out of the picture. However, he quickly calmed himself down when he came up with the notion that the male was likely coming over to clean up the numerous tables that were placed around his own.

To his surprise, albeit it being admittingly more displeasure and distaste, Chan stood right beside the opposite seat and gave a small wave, smiling awkwardly.

"Ehm.. Hello. You wanted an interview?"

Seungmin stayed silent, finding it odd that the male knew about the interview. He wondered why the male sat down; he had only asked for the manager or owner.

Suddenly, a thought came into his mind, "Are you perhaps... the owner?"

Chan immediately nodded, rubbing the nape of his neck, seemingly flustered to call and acknowledge himself as the owner. Seungmin didn't know how to process this information and was frozen in place, unable to process what had happened.

A high class investigator working as the busboy at a cafe was strange enough, but he hadn't expected him to be the owner. What kind of boss and in what kind of dimension does the owner do the shittiest job available in their own business.

Not staying on the matter for long, he tensed up as his thoughts progressed to the more worrisome side - the possibility of him getting exposed. Luckily for him, it seemed that just like the blonde human, the man didn't know who he actually was.

He tried not to give away his priorly anxious state; faking a smile as he stood up and greeted the male, extending his hand.

The male smiled back, shaking Seungmin's hand as he gestured for the other to sit down before doing so himself. Before they could start the interview however, San approached their table with a tray and a couple cups of coffee in his hand, placing one down in front of Seungmin.

Seungmin looked at the male and the cup in confusion only for the male to smile as he said, "I noticed you didn't place any order. So here you go, on the house!"

The teen nodded, awkwardly smiling as he thanked the male. The male shook his head urging him to drink the coffee. Seungmin obliged, taking the cup in his hand and sniffed it before taking a sip. The coffee was fragrant and was bitter with a sour aftertaste. While normally that would be a bad combination, the balance between the two flavours created a symphony in his mouth.

The coffee was different from the usual overly sweet or overly bitter mixture he was used to drinking. It was bitter, however enough so that it felt right and the sour aftertaste didn't ruin it at all as well as made him feel refreshed afterwards instead.

The taste of the coffee had his eyes sparkle in disbelief and awe as a genuine smile involuntarily broke out on his face. The wolf-like male sitting across from him tilted his head in amusement while looking at Seungmin, intrigued by his reaction.

"Is the coffee that good? I've never seen anyone react with as much awe as you. It actually kind of looks like you're a highschooler who's just starting to fall in love." Chan said, smiling and raising an eyebrow in wonder.

Seungmin, who had gotten distracted by the coffee, snapped out of it and was embarrassed, looking down as a faint blush painted his cheeks. In his embarrassment, he tried to quickly answer, "A-ah. I apologize for my behaviour."

He then shyly - in reality, inwardly cursing at himself for having to act like some innocent, pubescent high schooler - looked up at the elder and looked down once more as he softly said, "This is seriously the best cup of coffee I've ever drank."

The teen then realized that beside Chan was the staff who had given him the cup of coffee, looking straight at him with a pleased expression. Seungmin being the overly cautious person he was, didn't take it lightly, "Excuse me, I don't mean to sound rude but why are you sitting next to him?"

The ebony-haired male tilted his head, also confused before hitting his closed fist against his palm as he came to a realisation, "Oh right!"

"I forgot to mention this to you earlier but I'm the manager of this cafe! I would have told Chan hyung about this interview and continued with my duties, but since you personally told me that you wanted both of us, here I am," he continued, spreading his arms open and shaking his hands.

Seungmin blanked out for a while, partly in disbelief and the other in genuine surprise on how stupid people could be at times. However, after the mention of the interview, he had chosen to just forget about these 'nonsensical sequence of events' and turned to the side, reaching for his bag that was on the chair beside him.

He opened the clutch and rummaged through his bag to find what he needed for the interview. Unexpectedly, he took out his notepad and a pencil from his bag; with having to pay for both his and Jeongin's living expenses, he couldn't afford a recorder like most other journalists or interviewers.

Finished with his preparation, he turned to ask the males for his permission to start, "Shall we start?"

The males once continued to smile as they replied, "Sure!"

"For the owner, tell me about yourself." the teen asked, after scanning through the list of questions he had prepared beforehand.

"My name is Bang Chan. I'm the founder and owner of Young Wings. I was born in South Korea and raised in Sydney before moving back here and settling down for...," The male furrowed his eyebrows, lips downturned into a slight pout - almost as though saddened by something - as he paused for a moment, seemingly thinking of something before continuing where he left off, "personal reasons. You might know me more as a first class investigator, but since I'm free today I decided to help around since today's particularly busy."

Seungmin was just about to move on to the next person only to be interrupted as the man started to once again talk about himself, "Right, anyways, I find joy in doing all sorts of sports. I personally find sunny days better than rainy days and oh! I used to do ballet and modern dance."

Before Chan started to ramble about the things he liked, Seungmin stopped him as he asked the next question, "Thank you, Chan-nim. Now, what about the manager? Please tell me about yourself too."

"Alright so, My name is Choi San, born in Namhae, South Gyeongsan, South Korea. Technically I'm a co-founder of this cafe but I work as the manager. I'm in charge of mostly making the coffee and I also supervise, train the staff that work here, amongst the other stuff like finance. I like watching TV and playing PC games and that's all I can think of."

"That should be more than enough, thank you." Seungmin said as he nodded, noting everything down in points. Quickly, referencing his list, he then proceeded to ask them the next question, "So, how was 'Young Wings' formed?"

"Well, after a few years of settling in and exploring more of South Korea, I met San and quickly came to know of his spectacular talent of making coffee. Anyways, he made me realize that some people might find it difficult to search for a place to go out and enjoy food and drinks with their friends or a simple place to have coffee and work, and find resour- I mean really good coffee around this area in Seoul so we decided to build Young Wings." Seungmin's eyes narrowed at the blunder but he kept quiet, deciding to let the male continue.

It seemed that the cafe was slowly coming to its rush hours, however, since just as they were about to proceed with the interview, a staff member called San to help with the sudden influx of customers as well as a couple of 'special orders'. Left without much of a choice, San had to leave the session midway, excusing himself as he quickly left for the counter after he did to attend to the waiting customer.

Although curious, Seungmin decided not to question this 'special order' as it was probably only a drink from their menu which only San knew how to make - his specialty perhaps. While he could ask about it, regardless, he didn't want to probe too much so early into the interview.

"I noticed that your pastries are quite popular here. Can you give me a little insight on how you make them?" Chan froze for some time after hearing the question, thinking of an answer.

"Ehm.. You see, a friend of mine owns a bakery. I helped her during some difficult times and I guess she felt the need to pay me back so... Yeah, her bakery only sells to us and of course, she's getting her share and what not."

"Is there a reason for your decision to buy pastries from other sources?" Seungmin asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well... As you can tell, the cafe has been booming recently and according to our Manager, San, had a bit of discussion with my friend and afterwards, they decided that they would hire a third party. I trust them enough to agree to whatever it is they decide to do. It also has something to do with the fact that I'm a very busy person and have to work until late on most nights. I don't normally have the time to think about such things. I'm more of a figurehead than an actual owner."

"I see."

After a bit of thinking, the teen continued to dig for more information, "But doesn't the cafe close in the evening? Also, wouldn't it be easier for you to hire an employee who can make them here instead?" Seungmin asked, getting curious. He found it odd that in a big establishment such as the cafe, no one knew how to make pastries.

Suddenly, Seungmin was hit by the oddly familiar scent of iron.

Chan, who was just about to answer, noticed that the young journalist had gotten distracted and decided to stay silent; while normally, he would've asked, the bewildered expression the young male had made him think that the younger wouldn't be paying him much attention.

The teen, after getting out of his momentary shock, instantly started to look around, trying to pinpoint the source of the smell. His eyes quickly wandered the place before they ended up landing on the paper bag that San was handing to a customer from behind the counter. 'Does that mean it's...'

"Flesh?!" Seungmin exclaimed - although his voice was contained just a little above a whisper - shocked, gaze fixed on the paper bag. Chan, who had heard the male's soft words, panicked internally, eyes widening.

"I'm sorry?" was all he managed to say. Seungmin looked back with a seemingly conflicted look as he asked Chan, "That bag. It's filled with human flesh... isn't it?"

Chan was very shocked and afraid at the teen's accusations. He couldn't deny it since all the proof that was needed was still in the customer's hands and could easily be taken for verification. Is this how it all ends? By an article that he had actually agreed to be part of?

He was thrilled when San told him regarding the interview and thought it would be a good opportunity to attract more customers and attention towards the cafe. For a good few moments he was relaxed with the interview, with him only being asked some pretty generic questions. The reason was not known but longer the interview had gone on though the more and more unsettled he became. Now, he regretted not trusting in his gut feeling more.

Sweat dripped down his temples as he tried to think of a way to stop San, Jisung, Felix and the rest of the staff working there from getting involved in whatever mess this would create. It was fine if he was captured or exposed but he refused to let anything happen to everyone else. While his mind was racing to find a solution, he had a sudden realisation.

_Their seating position._

Felix had led him to a corner seat, which was conveniently far far away from the counter. Not to mention, the flesh was placed inside a special paper bag he ordered to minimize the smell and there didn't seem to be any blood or the like leaking from the bag either. However, no normal human would be able to detect the scent of blood. Unless..

"Are you a ghoul?" Chan finally asked, his fingers crossed underneath the table top and his body tight with tension.

Seungmin nodded in reply, lips slowly curving upwards into a small smile. Chan instantly slumped back against his seat as he let out a sigh, exclaiming softly in relief, "Oh my god! that's such a relief. You really surprised me. For a second there I thought I was finally done for."

The teen's smile widened as he laughed for a bit before bowing down a bit and apologising, "Ah, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"So, about the pastries and is that special order-" Seungmin asked. Before he could finish however, Chan had nodded his head, already knowing what the younger wanted to know.

"We can't really make our own pastries for obvious reasons but it really is my friend that helps out. As for the special orders, I guess you've figured it out already. To keep this up, we have to stock up every few weeks. That's actually the main reason why I wanted to open this place up. It's for the people who can't and won't hunt on their own, just like San and the other pacifist ghouls that work here." Chan said, trying his best to speak softly so that they wouldn't be heard by any unwanted spectators.

"That's actually... very kind of you." Seungmin said, thinking that Chan wasn't as bad as he originally thought. The man was an investigator but still willingly helped ghouls.

He slowly fell into a daze as his mind drifted away in an endless sea of thoughts. He respected him for even trying to help ghouls in this way. He hadn't even thought of doing something like this and was sure not a lot of ghouls had too even if they did, how many had actually followed through?

His mind was caught in a turmoil as he struggled to figure out what he was to do. But after a few minutes had passed by, the constant reminder that he was the same person who hurt Jeongin - His Jeongin - had caused his mind to take a dark turn.

A light bulb had lit up. He had come up with an ingenious plan to sabotage them, he went back and forth on whether he should execute, mind in total confusion, but seeing Jeongin badly injured after that fight enraged him, no matter how many times he thought about the good that these people had done for ghouls, it didn't have as much relevance as them hurting Jeongin.

He finally set his target on the investigator that had done this to him, the cafe came second. But first he needed to get as much information as he could and what better way than to use the interview as a cover. "So everyone here, are they all ghouls?" He then asked.

"Obviously they're also one of us. I'm sure you and I both know that entrusting humans with work when they're so near to us is not exactly the wisest choice." Chan replied.

The young journalist could feel that the investigator was starting to open up a bit - likely due to his own lack of an unfavourable reaction to their discussion. Still trying to get as much knowledge about his adversary as possible, he continued to ask, "How many people work here?"

Despite taking quite a long time to mull over the query, Chan gave a lackluster response, causing the younger male to clench his hand around his pencil in slight annoyance, "I'm not sure. I'm not around much to see all the employees but I'm assuming around five. It could be more though, San knows better than I do."

"What about customers? The one that needs 'special orders', how many come by?"

The answer was again, less than ideal, Seungmin's hold getting increasingly tighter as he began to inwardly curse at the male in his mind, "I'm not too sure either. Those I know of come up to around six or seven but again San is better knowledged and would know the exact figures."

"Do they come everyday?"

"Uh, I don't really know. You should ask San" Chan said, deflecting the question without even bothering to think much; the questions the younger were asking were not something he was able to give a clear answer to and he was never one to trick people.

_Snap._

The pencil in his hand broke into two; he could no longer hold in his annoyance, frustration clear as he roared out, "What the fuck do you know anyway?!"

"Huh?" Chan squeaked out, seeming surprised. He felt extremely lost at the younger's sudden outburst, unable to wrap his mind around what he had done to incite the teen's ire?

.

.

.

The two awkwardly stared at one another, before Seungmin broke their eye contact, pursing his lips as he turned to look out the window berating himself for his stupidity, 'Shit! Shouldn't have done that.'

Chan fidgeted, his foot bouncing up and down in its place, feeling uncomfortable with the silence that now surrounded them. As the two ghouls let time slip past in silence, the cafe soon entered its peak hour - customers flooding into the shop in droves.

"Hyung! We need your help!" Felix called out to Chan; the blonde had been assigned to take over the older male's job for him but couldn't keep up with the fast pace, busy doing his own task - cleaning up the tables.

Chan looked at the younger struggle for a while, debating whether or not it would be impolite if he were to leave. Eventually guilt built up and he turned his head towards Seungmin, scratching the back of his head as he hesitantly said, "So uh, I need to go."

Seungmin nodded, still not daring to look him in the eye. Underneath the shadows that covers his face, he gritted his teeth, frustrated, 'No! I can't leave on bad terms. I need him to trust me if I want a chance of catching him off guard.'

The beanie-wearing investigator smiled gratefully and was about to stand from his seat to return to his job when the teen suddenly - from Chan's point of view - snapped his head and started to apologize for his prior outburst, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you, I've just been stressed lately. Work, bills and stuff are just starting to get to me, you know?"

"Yeah, of course. No hard feelings yeah?" Chan smiled, slightly relieved that Seungmin wasn't as upset as he thought he was.

Or so he thought.

'I didn't really expect the buffoon to fall for it. Well, in any case, it's good for me.' the younger thought, although not giving any signs that could reveal his rather malicious thoughts.

"Hm." Chan stood up and left for the kitchen before being reminded of something and swiftly turned his body towards the male and snapped his fingers, "Oh, almost forgot."

Seungmin looked towards the male only to see a bright closed-eye, dimpled smile as the older exclaimed, "I'm trusting you to keep the 'important' details to yourself!"

The younger internally sneered at Chan, smiling brightly as he nodded and he reassured the older with a firm voice, "Of course, your secret is safe with me!"

'Although it's less for your sake than the other ghouls.' The journalist thought as he grabbed his things and placed them in his bag.

Finished packing, he goes to the back of a long line of customers ordering a fresh cup of coffee to go and a slice of chocolate cake that he had promised Jeongin he would bring. Not forgetting to keep up appearances by waving back at San and Felix who had bid him farewell.

~*~*~*~*~

Sitting on his bed, Seungmin was very focused typing something on his laptop. A few days have passed since the interview and he had already published his article regarding 'Young Wings'. Leaning forward with his hands behind him, Jeongin was looking at the screen of the laptop.

"Hyung, it's getting kind of late. Shouldn't you eat something?" He said in a worried tone. Seungmin shook his head, continuing to type without saying a word. The younger exasperatedly sighed at this while leaning backward as he whined, "Come on, you just came back home from stalking that Bang Chan guy and taking pictures of him for that stupid article of yours. You've been at it for days. Is it really more important than your empty stomach?"

The elder finally looked up and sighed as well not doing anything to address the matter and just reassured the younger, "It's fine, Innie."

Before getting back to work Seungmin reminded the younger to have dinner, "By the way, shouldn't you also get something to eat? You are the human here after all."

Jeongin grunted partially in disbelief and the other in irritation - he couldn't believe that the older was basically telling him to do what the older himself wouldn't. Angrily stomping away, he walked towards the other 'room' to grab himself some food, following Seungmin's words despite his annoyance towards the older.

Shortly after Jeongin had left, Seungmin had finally finished writing his article. He quickly saved the document before anything bad happened. Not too long afterwards he copied the whole thing, went to a publishing site.

Setting the author's name as anonymous, he pasted the entire document over and quickly published it. Once it was successfully published, the article loaded on screen, the title fully visible in a big and bold font.

Seungmin subconsciously let out a sadistic smirk at the sight of the title.

**_'First Class Investigator Bang Chan - Human or Ghoul?'_ **


	17. If You’re Human

Although a few days have passed, the article Seungmin published still hadn't done any damage. It was something to be expected though, an article being released by an anonymous user on a random publishing website without anything much to prove the credibility of the said article was bound to have little to no readers - at least not many that actually took it to mind.

His status as a staff member of a trusted news department couldn't help him so he was stuck and the ever growing helplessness at the lack of development was genuinely starting to aggravate. He really hadn't expected the article to do this bad.

As he was making his way to his desk while thinking about it, he noticed that the editorial board members in the next room were making a commotion, a panic-stricken look plastered on each and every one of their pale faces. Seungmin, not really having any pending work that required his immediate attention, decided to spare a bit of his time to sate his curiosity.

Making his way to the room, he quietly approached the head of the editorial board, Yeosang, who just so happens to be one of his many friends. The man had overgrown platinum blonde hair which was parted in the middle, the roots already beginning to show the natural black color of his hair. He had a defined face with an angular jawline, a tall and straight nose bridge as well as a pointed gaze, basically the word 'sharp' was written all over his face.

The closer Seungmin got, the more evident the frown on the older male's face became. Clearly something big had happened. Afterall, it wasn't often that the department head would be so distraught.

Yeosang was evidently buried deep within his whirlwind of thoughts, resting his hand on top of his creased forehead and staring daggers at the computer screen in front of him. Seungmin stood next to him, coughing to announce his presence before waiting for the male to turn to him so he could find out what had caused all the panic.

A few moments of silence later, Seungmin raised his eyebrow in confusion. He coughed once more but was still incapable of attracting the male's attention towards himself. Unable to wait any longer, he lightly tapped Yeosang's shoulder.

Yeosang turned to look at the owner of the hand that had touched his shoulder blade and immediately sighed in exasperation upon seeing that it was Seungmin.

"Oh it's just you, Seungmin-ah. I thought it would be another one of the editorial board members with yet another problem. But then again, I'm quite relieved to see your face instead one of theirs."

"What's going on anyway, hyung?"

"An intern accidentally deleted the finished product of the article that was supposed to be on the front page of today's newspaper and we don't have any time to make another one. If the boss finds out about this, we'll be in really big trouble. The entire editorial team might get fired for this."

Seungmin was shocked and thought about a solution for the problem. After a while of thinking, he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea, "Hey Yeosang hyung, I just finished reading this article from an anonymous user. It had pretty good sentence structure and choice of words that were worthy of a front page in my opinion. Maybe you can use this?"

Seungmin quickly took out his phone and searched for the article on his browser. Opening the website he gave Yeosang his phone to let him read the article. The man was flabbergasted at the suggestion but still quickly skimmed through the first three paragraphs. "You want us to use an op-ed for the front page?!"

Seungmin nodded mutedly causing Yeosang to breathe out a large sigh, "You're insane, you know? Well, it's not like we have much of a choice though."

The male turned silent and seemed to be having a fight with himself before nodding his head, "Alright, we'll use it."

Seungmin smiled, happy to help his friend. At the back of his mind however he was much more pleased that his plan of ruining a certain investigator's life will finally bear fruit soon.

~*~*~*~*~

Like every other morning the three ghouls had woken up and carried on with their daily lives. It seemed that today was slightly different from normal though.

Chan had, for the first time in a decade, decided to wake up early and actually go to work on time. Due to this, he had not joined the other two for their meal.

Felix silently hummed as he stood by the sink in the kitchen, in the middle of cleaning up the mess that was left behind after today's breakfast. Jisung had, as per usual, bolted off somewhere directly after having breakfast, leaving the youngest to tend to the house and cafe alone - well, at least until San decides to drop by.

Some time later, the ebony-haired male finally arrived and together the two quickly started to prep the cafe for opening. San refilled the coffee grinders with a fresh batch of coffee beans before making his way to the kitchen at the back.

He returned with a tray filled with pastries in his hand as he opened the back of each display case, carefully placing each and every pastry in its rightful spot. He then put the tray back in the kitchen before returning to the grinder and taking the now grounded coffee beans to the brewer. Once again he returned to add more beans into the grinder.

While San was setting up the displays and preparing the coffee, Felix was sweeping the floor. Afterwards he went to the back and grabbed a mop and once again scraped through the entire place. A few minutes later, he had moved to each and every table and started to pick up the chairs that were on the table tops, placing them in their rightful places.

It was a few more minutes before they were done setting up the place, bar a few displays that were yet to be filled up. Felix, having finished cleaning up the front, helped San to carry the trays out to the back of the counters so that they could finish filling the rest of the displays.

San and Felix were carrying several trays with pastries on them and making their way to the counter out front only to nearly drop the trays when Jisung suddenly rushed into the building, slamming the back door that connects the cafe kitchen and the house open with a loud bang. While they wouldn't be bothered by the boy's sudden appearance, Jisung's distressed expression told them that something had happened and it was unlikely to be favorable for them.

"Sungie? What happened?" Felix asked, feeling worried for the troubled teen as both he and San placed the trays on the counter. Trying his best to catch his breath, Jisung panted as he bent over holding his knees to stable himself, a newspaper rolled up in one of his hands.

Finally Jisung took a deep breath before he started to rapidly recall and spell out what had caused his plight, "Well you see I actually left early to meet up with Minho hyung to ask him if he wanted to hang out later this afternoon since he's always busy with the whole investigator nonsense but then now you think about it the last time I asked him which was yesterday by the way he said no just like the day before and the day before and before that too oh and the day be-"

"Sung, I love you. But if you don't start making sense I will throw my shoe at you!" Felix belatedly exclaimed, having gotten tired of listening to the other's seemingly endless rambling.

"Right. Sorry. Anyways, when I went to the CCG building to wait for Minho hyung, I saw Chan hyung with a bunch of other investigators! At first I was like oh hyung has friends but then they handcuffed him and brought him away! It was really shocking so I was like - oh no! Hyung's getting arrested who's gonna save me when I get into trouble next time I don't want to get scolde-"

"Wait a minute! Arrested?! Sungie are you sure that's what happened?!" San asked,his mouth gaping wide open; almost as though mirroring the older's surprise and worry, Felix was speechless and soon started to feel very tense and anxious.

"Of course I'm serious! I'm not that dumb, okay?! Why would I lie about something like this?!" Jisung said in partial anger at their apparent distrust for his words and continued to go into more detail to show them that he was right, "Coincidentally enough, Minho hyung was there for the whole thing so after those mean investigators left, I went to ask hyung what happened and he just gave me this newspaper at the time i was like - who does he think he is giving me a newspaper?! I'm not going to read it! I'm not some stupid old hag, the only hag around here is-"

"Sungie!" San and Felix screamed exasperatedly as the boy started to get derailed from the main topic once more.

"Oh. Right. So anyway, he told me to read the front page and you won't believe what's on there!" Jisung said as he held up the rolled up newspaper minho had given to him earlier, handing it over to let the others see what was written, 'First Class Investigator Bang Chan - Human or Ghoul'

"What?! How did they find out that Chan's a ghoul?!" San exclaimed.

Jisung looked at him as though the older man had gone crazy and pointed at the newspaper in Felix's hands, exclaiming, "I don't know! I came here as soon as I saw the headline! Agh, just read it!"

The blonde teen quickly scanned the page and started to read out loud as he hastily found the main argument that the article presented, "First class investigator Bang Chan seemed to display unusual behaviour for a human such as going out from the CCG building during lunch hours and avoiding any contact with other investigators like him. Although he might be able to pass through the RC cell detector like any other human, it might be the cause of him tampering with the system."

San's face instantly contorted in disbelief upon having completed reading the article and he slammed the newspaper down as he protested, "What's with this bullshit?! This doesn't even make any sense! Channie can actually pass through that stupid detector, hacked or not!"

"Wait... how can hyung pass through that thing without getting detected anyway?" Jisung asked San, suddenly realising that it was weird that Chan was able to freely roam CCG. Just before the ebony-haired male could answer, they heard a banging from the cafe area. They turned to look at the door and saw a group of CCG investigators waiting outside.

With San, being the oldest, the two younger ghouls turned to him asking for his thoughts on what they were supposed to do. After a moment of deliberation, he hesitantly walked up to the door, unlocking it to let them in. From the hoard of people, a single female investigator stepped out to confront the three ghouls.

She had a rather faded bubblegum pink color for her hair which was tied in a classic three strand braid. Her eyes were wide and double lidded with light brown orbs, her jawline although defined was rounded giving her a softer look which contrasted her ever sharp gaze.

"I apologise for barging in outside of working hours. My name is Park Jihyo, Associate special class investigator." Jihyo said, taking out her ID from her pocket, showing it to them.

She then continued, "I have come to inform you that First class investigator Bang Chan has been arrested due to the suspicion of him being a ghoul. By now, it is likely that he would have been taken away for interrogation. He will continue to be held in custody until the day he could be proven innocent. Please rest assured however as he has yet to be proven guilty as well. We are merely keeping him in custody to prevent public dispute."

Felix clenched his fist tightly, feeling upset but was nonetheless glad that the situation was not as bad as he had originally anticipated. However, this did nothing to settle his ever present and growing worry for Chan. With him being unable to think of a plausible solution there was absolutely nothing the blonde could use to convince himself that everything would be fine and cool his state of unrest.

The onslaught of dreadful thoughts of what could happen to Chan soon became overwhelming and his agitation bubbled over leaving him amidst a chaotic whirlwind of emotions. This had stimulated his RC cells causing him to look down to the ground.

He tried to hide the red flashing of his left eye as he fought to keep his kagune at bay, not wanting to further jeopardize the three older ghouls and himself. Unfortunately, since he had never been keen on doing any sort of training in regards to his status as a ghoul, it took some time - perhaps a bit too much - for him to reign it in.

Thankfully though, given that the type of situation - being informed that one was unknowingly living under the same roof as a ghoul - would typically be appalling to a majority of humans, none of the investigators present had noticed, likely thinking that the prolonged action was merely an expression of the blonde teen's disbelief.

San pulled the two younger males to stand behind him so that he could easily protect them from harm if anything were to happen; after all, he had promised Chan he would take care of them. Following the two moving themselves behind him, the older let go of their hands as he turned back to face the female investigator.

Felix, feeling uneasy and jittery, reached out to grab onto Jisung's hand, clasping their palms together as he looked at the older with worry. Jisung also seemed nervous as he gave the blonde a slight smile, trying to reassure the younger by tightening his hold on Felix's hand.

"So what does that have to do with us?" Felix asked.

Jihyo had noticed San and Jisungs's act of defensiveness - albeit the ebony-haired male's being more blatant - and narrowed her eyes in suspicion as a glint momentarily appeared in her eyes, deciding to keep a note of the male's actions in her mind. It seemed that she had decided not to address it however as she made no move to separate the three from one another.

"Since Investigator Bang Chan lives here, we are afraid that there may be another ghoul among the three of you. So for the remaining duration that Bang Chan is being held captive, CCG requests that this cafe is closed until further notice."

Looking straight into Felix's eyes she calmly continued, gesturing to the blonde and orangette to make sure they understood who she was referring to, "In addition, since the two of you are also under suspicion, you are all required to be present when we are to prove Investigator Bang's innocence."

Jisung, who could no longer handle the tense atmosphere - this was new for him. Never before had he been placed in such a situation and not really knowing the proper way to act, he did the first thing his brain suggested to him, shout, "You can't make us!"

Jihyo turned to look at the agitated teen, countering him with a calm, "Oh, but we can."

Enraged, Jisung lunged at her but was immediately held back by Felix, who's hand was still interlocked with his. The female investigator didn't even flinch and instead looked at orange head with a disapproving stare almost as though the teen was a dog that had gone against its master's command. Jisung thrashed around in Felix's arms, only calming down when San had told him to.

Seeing Jisung settle down, the ebony-haired male turned his head to the blonde teen, urging him to say something. Getting the message, the youngest of the three ghouls faced the pink haired investigator, trying to steady his voice before replying, "Alright, we'll be there."

After hearing his reply, Jihyo nodded her head and raised her free hand, signalling the other investigators behind her to leave as she stayed behind a little longer. She then stared at their tense figures for some time before saying,"Rest assured, there is no reason to fear attending the trial, that is," She said, pausing as she added,

_"...if you are human."_

She then walked towards the door, pushing the door open slightly before stopping and looking back as she said, "Oh, also. Be warned, any absentees will be hunted down as we shall assume that they are a ghoul whether or not Investigator Bang is proven guilty or innocent."

"Well then if you'll excuse me." with that she pushed the door open and exited the cafe, rejoining the few investigators that had stayed back to wait for her before walking away - presumably back to CCG - leaving the three ghouls alone.

San followed behind Jihyo and his tense muscles were finally able to relax after making sure that she and the other investigators had truly gone. He lowered his guard, sighing both in relief and frustration. Felix, who as time went on was getting increasingly anxious due to the raging thoughts in his mind, tugged the ebony-haired male's shirt, trying to grab his attention.

Once the older turned to face him, he asked, "Hyung, what are we supposed to do? What if they actually find out? What's going to happen to Channie hyung?"

Jisung, who was also getting worried, went to do what he normally would when things were too much for him to handle - he ran away or at least in this case he ran to distract himself the only way he knew how. He was about to make his way to the kitchen to grab some cheesecake only to stop in his tracks as he realised something, "Does this mean I have to go back to living under the bridge?"

San then turned his head to look at Jisung, sighing as he showed a calm expression. He crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head and seemed to get lost in thought before gaining a look of confidence as he reassured the two anxious teens, "No. There is no way they would find out, even if they replace that RC cell detector a thousand times. If he gets discovered we'll be dead anyway."

The other two looked at one another visibly confused. They didn't understand how the older was so calm and confident of his claim. Furthermore and the fact that they didn't actually know how Chan was able to get into the CCG office in the first place wasn't helping with their confusion either. It seemed the two had come to a consensus and Felix nodded as he asked, "How does Channie hyung get in CCG anyway?"

San suddenly looked conflicted and thought for a while as though debating something in his mind before nodding to himself as he replied, "Chan hyung is a very... special man, it would be good for both of you to remember that."

The two younger ghouls were still very lost as the older hadn't really given them a real answer but they decided to trust their hyung and nodded their head in understanding. Seeing this, the oldest ghoul stopped to think for a moment and said, "It's probably for the best if we close today. I don't want to find out what CCG would do if we don't do as they say. Plus, I think we could all use some time to think about this."

"I'll just put these back in the kitchen for some other time and head home, yeah?" He added he took the trays on the counter, walking towards where the rest of the pastries were left in the kitchen. Jisung spaced out for a while before his face lit up, quickly skipping to follow San into the kitchen, happily humming and asking, "Hey, hyung~ You don't happen to have some cheesecake, do you?"

Soon, enough the cafe was closed, pastries put away, chairs neatly placed on top of the tables, the lights shut off. The ebony-haired male shrugged on his coat, bidding the two younger ghouls goodbye. Putting up a sign at the front of the cafe, informing passersby as well as their customer of their closing for today, waving at the two as he left - to which Jisung enthusiastically waved back.

Felix shook his head at the orange-haired male's shenanigans and was about to go to his room to rest when he heard a knock from the back door. He went to the back door and looked through the door's peephole to see who was knocking. It was the journalist that had interviewed San and Chan, although primarily the oldest, earlier this week - Seungmin.

"We're closed!" Felix exclaimed, hoping that the journalist would hear him and leave while inwardly wondering what the male was doing here in the first place. The blonde didn't remember Chan having mentioned any guests coming over. It didn't take long for the other to reply, "I wanted to talk. Just for a few minutes?"

_"Please?"_

Felix was still reluctant to let the man in since now wasn't really the best time for any of them to entertain others but remembering how his hyung had ended the interview with the journalist on a happy note, he thought that it would be rude to turn him away.It also helped that this was probably the only opportunity he was going to get to relax a bit and talk with someone other than Jisung; he couldn't deny that the day-older male could be, even for him, a bit much at times.

'Who knows, maybe we could become friends?' Felix thought to himself as though trying to convince himself to go through with his actions. After thinking about it and debating with himself in his mind for some time, he decided to let the male in. He opened the door and exchanged a few words of greeting before leading Seungmin to the living room, telling him to wait there as he got them something to drink.

Jisung, with his sensitive hearing, had overheard Felix and came over as well, wanting to see if he could convince the blonde to get him some 'refreshments' as well and although not too bothered, he was a bit curious about what was happening.

Felix, who was on his way back from the kitchen, met Jisung in the hallway and the two entered the living room together. The older of the two was visibly surprised to see Seungmin in the room but gave no further reaction, choosing to instead look at the blonde ghoul with doe eyes and pouty lips.

Sighing, the half-ghoul conceded and left momentarily to get a piece of cheesecake for the older male. After he returned, they exchanged pleasantries before he asked the journalist why he had come looking for him, "So Seungmin, what was it that you wanted to talk about? I'm sure it's not about the good weather."

'Time to see the fruit of my labor.' Seungmin thought, giving a small smile as he replied, his smile slowly turning to a sadistic smirk - not that the two ghouls noticed - as he saw their expression slowly morph with every word that left his mouth, "Oh, nothing too important. Just wanted to see how you're doing after the entire fiasco with the news and stuff. Chan got arrested right? I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about."

After hearing what Seungmin said, the two ghouls had a sudden shift in expression at the mention of Chan's name. Jisung's face contorted but the orangette had ultimately just looked away, not wanting to think of the matter at all - him breaking out into yet another panic attack wasn't going to help anyone and he didn't really want to become a burden. While he knew no one would think bad of him, he would much rather avoid the entire situation to begin with.

Felix's face displayed a mix of minor depression and anxiousness. Why did Seungmin have to bring it up? If he knows about what had happened to Chan, why would he aggravate them more than they already were? What did they ever do for him to be like this? Had it been intentional or was it just a slip of words? God knows how many awkward situations he had been in as a result of people word things weirdly.

Not really understanding the journalist's intentions but nonetheless angry and frustrated, he bit his lip. Muttering under his breath in language that was likely familiar to only him, a hint of what seemed to be pain in his barely audible voice, **"Yeah, we know."**

**'Wait. Why didn't I realise it before?!'**

While mulling over his own thoughts, Felix had suddenly realised something. He didn't know if it really meant anything but it was suspicious either way. With how fast he had come to a decision and stood up to face Seungmin, it wasn't odd for him to accidentally blurt out his question in English as he pointed his finger at the ghoul, **"How do you know?"**

'Oh? Guess not everyone living here is stupid after all.' Seungmin thought, amused. On the other hand, the orangette who was seated next to him, understandably, flinched - he hadn't expected Felix to suddenly yell. It didn't help that he couldn't understand what the blonde had said either, shocked and puzzled he asked, "Huh? What's going on?"

The blonde ignored the confused ghoul, much more concerned with the journalist who he currently had suspicions against. Glaring at the journalist, Felix repeated his question, this time with his voice lowered, making it sound even more intimidating than before, "I said, how do you know?!"

Seungmin found it so entertaining to see the blonde get riled up. After thinking of a few scenarios that could play out for a few moments, he finally decided to humor the male, 'Let's play a bit more. Who knows? I might be able to get something out of it.'

The youngest ghoul stared into the blonde's eyes, still seated as he calmly answered, **"I know. I understood you the first time."**

Felix was shocked at the sudden emergence of the familiar language from the journalist's mouth. However, he opted to pass it off for now - he needed to know the truth. The only way he could think of was to hear what the younger had to say to defend himself and fired back, "Then answer the question!"

"Wow. Really?" Seungmin replied, shaking his head. He looked at Felix and faked a look of disbelief and confusion as he continued to respond, his words not really giving much for the blonde to assess; he was curious to see where the male would take this, "I'm a journalist. Chan got outed by an article. Does that ring a bell?"

As the younger continued his response, the half-ghoul slowly became even more convinced that something was off. Why is he giving such vague answers? Letting his imagination run wild, he came to a shocking conjecture, "You were the one who wrote the article, weren't you?!"

While in reality that was exactly what happened, Seungmin knew that there was no concrete or solid evidence that the blonde could use to incriminate him and wasn't flustered at all, countering the older, "Are you really going to do this? Why would I come here if I did?"

Felix fell silent. It was true; if he had been the one to put Chan into this situation, the journalist was more than well informed about how all of them were ghouls so there was no way he didn't know about the risks involved, what reason would the younger have to place his life on the line by coming here?

Seungmin who was closely observing the half-ghoul had, of course, noticed the male's reaction to his words, wanting to push him further, the youngest ghoul continued, "If you still don't get it, let me put it into simple words for you."

"No, I wasn't the one who made that article. It just means that I have access to information that normal people wouldn't." He added; the blonde's face continued to contort as he taught about the younger's words. Had he gone too far? Felix had gone off on a tangent here - he didn't actually have anything that pointed towards his suspicion.

'I wonder when he'll break?' he thought to himself, inwardly smirking. The journalist was having the time of his life seeing the torment the male was currently in, completely letting go of any moderation he carried on, "That's real mature of you. Must feel nice to put a face and name to the cause of your sorrows, huh? Didn't even stop to think about whether you might be wrong before pointing fingers?"

Hearing the younger's words, the blonde was suddenly reminded of the times his humanity had been disregarded; the times when he was bullied, all the way back from when he had been in Australia; how it had all started with his innate tolerance for ghouls and slowly morphed into scrutiny over anything and everything that he had decided to do.

"You know, as a journalist, I work for a publishing house; the same one that released the article about Chan. I didn't know about the article until it was too late. I still tried to come and warn you but on my way here I saw Chan getting arrested and this is what I get?" Seungmin said. Thinking that the older was about to finally break he pushed on, "I didn't come here expecting you to thank me or sing praises about me but to accuse me?"

"I-" he tried to respond only to fail. It was understandable as Felix was now burdened with not only the journalist's anger but also painful memories of his past causing him to hesitate. While he wasn't entirely sure, he didn't want to be anything even remotely similar with the ghosts of his past, "I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean to. I just..." He kept going, momentarily pausing to collect his thoughts. Feeling that the apology wasn't nearly enough to make up for his actions, he tried to explain himself, "I have a lot on my mind right now. Thank you... for trying to warn us."

"I shouldn't have doubted you. I promise I won't blindly say things like this again." The blonde added, clenching his fist. Seungmin saw this, inwardly snickering at how easy it had been to fool the male, 'Just when I thought that he was smart for catching on, he decided to go and prove me wrong. At least, it made for a fun little pass time.'

He closed his eyes, pretending to calm down. Faking to think for some time, Seungmin slowly opened his eyes before putting on the most disgustingly sincere smile as he hummed in agreement, warmly replying, "It's okay. I understand that you're worried and I also went too far with some of the things I said."

Felix, who had been tense ever since the younger had begun to defend his case, finally felt relief as he heard Seungmin's words. He returned the smile, glad that the journalist hadn't decided to take offense and shut himself away from them, "Yeah, but it's still my fault. Anyone would get angry if they were framed and although not intentional I still did it."

Conflict now resolved, Seungmin extended his hand offering it. Felix was confused at first but quickly put two and two together - it seemed that the younger had offered his hand as a sign of them officiating the closure of this matter. Shaking the blonde's hand, the journalist reaffirmed, "Let's just put it behind us."

"Sure." The half-ghoul said, smile widening. Almost directly afterwards, silence crept into the room, atmosphere slowly becoming - from Felix's point of view -awkward and stale. He really didn't know where to begin to talk after everything that just happened, 'Would it be too weird to suddenly talk about pancake recipes again?'

'Finally, he stopped.' Seungmin thought, not really minding the quietness - in reality, borderline relishing in it. Ultimately, the blonde had decided to offer the male more refreshments; after all, the way to a man's heart was through his stomach, right? It would also help Felix get rid of the guilt that was slowly "I know it isn't much but let me give you free coffee as an apology."

The journalist nodded in accordance with this suggestion and the blonde quickly walked out of the room, making his way to the kitchen. When the blonde returned holding a tray with the steaming cups of coffee, he took note of how Jisung stared at both of them like they had each grown a second head.

_"Can someone please explain to me what just happened?"_


	18. I object!

Chan, who was being held captive by two investigators, was dragged down a long white hallway into one of the many interrogation rooms at CCG.

The investigator on his right slammed open the door at the end of the hall, as Chan was thrown forward, causing him to slam into a white metal table. The other investigator had quickly grabbed a chair, put it behind him and grabbed the back of chan's coat, harshly throwing him into the chair.

Chan nearly fell over but was stopped by the investigator who proceeded to handcuff his arms to the chair. Confused and shocked at the action, the black-haired ghoul tugged on the restraints, desperately struggling to break free. However, upon looking up in efforts to ask for a clarification, he came to a sudden halt as he was greeted by the cold and murderous glare from the people in the room.

Gulping, Chan took the chance to look around the room. He noticed the multitude of cameras, as well as people who were all staring directly at his figure from the platform above. Trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere, he bowed slightly and waved at the people who he noted to be his superiors with his hands still cuffed, showing an awkward smile.

The small wave however seemed to have the opposite effect however as their glares impossibly hardened even further and whispers spread throughout the room as they not so quietly conversed with one another. Chan progressively became unnerved as time went on, although he still wasn't scared. He knew he hadn't done anything that would warrant a death toll recently - not as an investigator anyway. Right now, he was more confused than anything else.

Lowering his palm slowly to grasp the edge of the chair's arm, Chan looked down and thought to himself, 'Wow.. whatever I did, I must be in big trouble. What did I do anyway? Oh! Was it because of the vending machine thing? I didn't mean to do it though... Plus, Jackson would be in as much trouble as I would if it was. Then again he wasn't part of the coffee machine incident. Or was it the....'

After having spent some time waiting and letting his mind wander as he tried to think of what he had actually been brought in for, a familiar female investigator with braided pink hair entered the room. Investigator Park Jihyo, if Chan remembers correctly, she's supposedly a rank higher than him - making her one of the few currently active Associate Class investigators. One of the youngest too, considering that she herself is around the same age as Chan.

Two other female investigators followed behind her, one having long blonde hair and the other being a brunette with wispy bangs. They were both carrying trays, one of which had what seemed to be a bunch of different types of cables and the other, a laptop and what Chan assumed, was an adaptor.

The three women looked up at the platform and promptly bowed down at the people watching, proceeding to walk towards the table at the centre of the room. The two women placed down the trays before working together to quickly untangle the various cables.

They then came over to Chan, wrapping two rubber tubes around the upper half of his torso, one above his chest and the other just below. After fastening the cables around his chest, the blonde came over to his left side, attaching a clamp-like device to his middle finger and fixed two of what seemed to be a small metal plate fastened with velcro straps on the second and fourth finger of his left hand.

The brunette on his right was fastening an inflatable blood pressure cuff around his upper arm, making sure to secure it in place before connecting the various cables to the adapter. The adapter was then connected by the last cable on the tray to the laptop.

Jihyo, who had been silently watching as the two set up the device, was handed the laptop by the brunette. She then sat down on the empty chair across from Chan, beginning to presumably open an application and type away while the two investigators moved back to stand near the entrance.

After some time, she stopped momentarily to look back at the platform and curtly nodded at the spectators. Jihyo turned back to face Chan with an indifferent look and began to question him, "First class investigator Bang Chan, are you aware of what caused you to be here - hooked up to a polygraph?"

"...To be honest, I actually don't know." Chan replied truthfully, a sheepish smile on his face.

Jihyo along with the rest of the spectators looked at the laptop screen. His heart rate and blood pressure were both stable. There was no abnormal fluctuation in his breathing and there were no signs of excessive sweating either.

'The truth.'

'So, the news was faulty?' Jihyo thought before quickly coming back to her senses and shaking her head, 'It's too early to come to a conclusion.'

She abruptly slammed her hand on the table, startling Chan as she leaned forward and pressed on, "You really are infuriating. Does 'being a ghoul' ring a bell?"

Hearing this Chan's face turned pale, his pupils dilating in surprise. His heart pounding against his chest.

Seeing the fluctuations in the readings caused Jihyo to smirk, 'Chance!'

She gestured at one of the female investigators to take her place as she stood up and started to walk around the table, continuing to speak in efforts to dig deeper and force Chan into a corner, "A frontpage article written by an anonymous writer was published the day before and blew up in a matter of hours. The article has provided us as well as the general public with very convincing evidence that you are indeed a ghoul. What do you think about that?"

Chan avoided any eye contact with the female. He was nervous, his feet fidgeting in place.

'He's nervous.' Jihyo thought, her eyes narrowing even further as the blonde female confirmed her thoughts.

Chan quickly pulled himself together, looking directly at the Jihyo, ready to get this over with. He was sure he could get out of here one way or another. Most of the Special Class aren't actively working and the Associate Class, injured. The biggest threat in the room to him right now was JIhyo herself. The others were on top of the platform and he was certain he could take out the brunette behind him before they made it to him.

Jihyo however was much too close but he was confident in his ability. Confident that he could make it out alive. In the worst case scenario, he would be heavily injured, unable to continue working in CCG and he along with Felix, Jisung, and perhaps San and the other staff working with the cafe would have to run away and lay low for a little while. It would be frustrating if it had to come to that but it wouldn't be anything more than that.

"I object!"

"It's nothing more than a sad excuse of an article made by some shoddy writer." Chan firmly asserted.

"So that's how it is? Very well then. If it actually is not just a sad excuse by some 'shoddy writer' who had actually included evidence in their writing, you will not leave with your head attached to your body." Jihyo said as she walked back to her seat. The blonde investigator stood up but this time she remained standing next to Jihyo.

The pinkette crossed her legs and arms as she sat, proceeding to interrogate Chan, "Let's start with something simple, for instance your eating habits. During lunch hours, it appears that you always exit the building and return later. Might this be due to you eating human flesh?"

Chan paused for a moment before, tilting his head in confusion. After thinking for some time he laughed and mockingly asked, "This is what you ask about?"

Jihyo was angered thinking that the male wasn't taking the interrogation seriously but before she could exercise her anger, Chan had already continued with an onslaught of questions, "Is it wrong for me to eat alone? Haven't you done it before? Is it wrong to feel uncomfortable when people are around me while I eat? Is it really that weird for someone to go out for food? What part of eating out is so suspicious? Everyone does it. While some more than others - yes. But is it a crime?"

Chan then stared Jihyo in the eye,"I do have to admit, I eat alot and I'm also not really bothered with dining manners and things like that. I thought I would spare everyone from having to see me eat like a pig. Apparently that's a crime now. So much for laws of freedom."

Throughout the male's entire dialogue, the polygraph readings remained stable.

'He's not lying.' Jihyo thought, eyebrows furrowing slightly, 'Maybe he really is just a victim of propaganda. His nervousness could be due to suddenly being put under heavy suspicion. After all, it was proven that he didn't know why he had gotten arrested.'

The higher ups were whispering with each other again. Seeing the still evident disbelief and distrust of her superiors, Jihyo decided to continue despite her now questioning the reliability of the evidence they were provided, "Fine, I guess we will move on. What can you say about your habit of avoiding other CCG investigators?"

Chan was a bit lost, not knowing what to say. He couldn't exactly say that he avoided forming bonds so that he wouldn't feel bad if he had to one day face them in battle now could he? Before he could think any further however, Jihyo added something, "Even as a mentor, you seem to not get along with that rank 2 investigator."

'Of course, Minho!' Chan thought. He should've known that his distant relationship with the boy was bound to be used against him. It was strange after all - to remain estranged to someone you quite literally entrust your life to. Then again it was Minho's fault for rejecting his advances.

_'Wait...'_

_'It isn't my fault!'_

While inwardly Chan was basically jumping in joy due to having found a loophole he could use, he outwardly remained indifferent as he replied, "Well you see, I'm actually socially inept but I had tried to get along with Minho anyway since we would be working together for some time. Minho, however, had told me himself that he is the type of person who prefers to keep his personal life away from his work. I didn't want to overstep my boundaries. Even you can understand, right?"

The polygraph remained stable, once again not detecting any fluctuations.

Nonetheless, the inquiry continued. Time went on and more and more acquisitions were proven false as Chan managed to successfully evade each one, making everyone in the room confused. Could it be they were wrong and had been too hasty with their actions? The article had been really compelling though, upon reading it, not a single one of them in the room had been able to find anything that they could say to defend Chan.

Thus, they were positive that the article had been the real deal. However now that they were merely having the customary polygraph reading, the tables had been flipped all the way around.

Jihyo was especially frustrated. While she did have suspicions that Chan was actually innocent and had done nothing wrong, she still had this gut wrenching feeling that it wasn't actually so. The lack of concrete evidence to back up her hunch left her unable to act.

After a copious amount of discussions, all the investigators in the room came to a unanimous understanding - First Class Investigator Bang Chan was innocent.

However, despite now knowing that Chan was in fact innocent, they weren't exactly sure how to prove it to the public. The article had caused distrust between CCG and the masses, now leaving them in a state of confusion. They couldn't let Chan go just like that- the public would riot but if they don't, it wouldn't sit well with their principles - Chan being an accused ghoul within the company lead to him being merely a victim of someone's shenanigans - and it didn't help that they had publicly announced that a trial would be held.

Still being cuffed to the chair, despite the interrogation session ending, made Chan steadily grow impatient. The first few minutes were fine, he could understand that they needed to talk and discuss things over. However, after half an hour his wrists were starting to become sore and he grew irritated.

Eventually he couldn't hold back anymore and screamed, "What's going on?! If you're going to kill me make it fast and if you're not going to kill me, then just let me go I really need to pee!"

Everyone in the room was shocked at the sudden outburst but Jihyo had acted quickly, looking at Chan with a knowing gaze and sighed as she approached him, "We have a problem."

"Although we believe that you are, in fact innocent, we cannot let you go."

"What?! Why not?!"

"Due to the entire situation blowing up earlier the public have started to express their distrust for CCG saying that we are harboring ghouls within our ranks. We're afraid that even if we say we conducted a polygraph test they won't believe it and claim that we are manipulating the truth and by association - them."

Jihyo clenched her fist in anger and disappointment in not only herself but her co-workers as well, begrudgingly continuing with her explanation, "We were working under the assumption that you are in fact a ghoul and because of that we have already publicly announced the date for the trial in which we were to appease the people by telling them we have eliminated the threat, which we obviously cannot do anymore. We didn't think you were innocent so we don't actually have a way to prove your innocence however we are unable to retract the trial either."

Chan looked at her in disbelief but from the genuine guilt he saw in her eyes he knew that Jihyo really was telling him the truth about what had them all so distressed. He himself became stressed as he wondered what this would mean for him as dazedly looked at his thighs.

Despite having escaped detection he was in fact still a ghoul after all, he had to eat at some point. It wasn't as though he could just stay in CCG forever either. He inwardly bashed his past self for having ever decided to join CCG once he knew he wouldn't get detected by the RC scan gate.

'Wait!'

Chan suddenly snapped his head upwards to Jihyo, "I may have a solution but will you let me go take a piss first? I don't think I can hold it for much longer."

After seeing the death glare Jihyo gave him he nervously laughed and continued, "Haha... right."

"Why don't we use the RC scan gate?"

~*~*~*~*~

Minho entered the CCG building, holding his briefcase tightly in his grasp. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that many people around him were whispering and looking at him, in what seemed like a judgemental light.

From the few faint whispers that he could make out, he could hear how people were looking down on him and reprimanding him for not realizing that Chan was a ghoul. Minho clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, feeling frustrated as he himself started to question his own abilities. This wasn't what he came to CCG for. He came to kill ghouls - not to work with them.

However, it could and should be accounted for that he had never really interacted with Chan outside of what was necessary and thus he couldn't have possibly noticed anything suspicious about Chan. Furthermore, it wasn't like it was likely for a ghoul to breach CCG's ranks in the first place. He was almost a hundred percent sure that if anyone was in his place, they would be the same, if not worse off than him.

Most would let down their guard since Chan was not only an investigator, but a high ranked one as well. Considering the fact that Chan himself was likely to be always on guard and careful with his actions, since the older clearly knew he was in enemy territory and that others would let their guard down thinking they were safe. If the person who worked together with Chan had not distanced him or herself from Chan like Minho did they would likely be dead.

Despite this he still couldn't get over the fact that most of the evidence provided in the article had been staring at him right in the eye and yet he still failed to notice it. Never before had he felt so blind - so useless.

While Minho was lost in his sea of thoughts, a group of investigators had approached him, smiling sinisterly as they did so. Being very vigilant due to the recent events, he immediately snapped out of his inner turmoil and turned to face the group.

Upon close inspection, he realised that the group of investigators were all rather familiar faces. Thinking about where he had seen all these people, he was suddenly reminded of 'The Academy' - they had been of the same graduate batch as he was.

The people, his former batch-mates, approached him and laughed at him. The male who was seemingly the leader of the group, sneered as he taunted Minho, "Look at you. The so called best graduate the academy has had and yet you still couldn't identify a ghoul that's standing right under your nose. What type of investigator are you?"

Minho felt aggravated and was about to retort, but was cut off as one of the other investigators in the group, a female this time, faked a fearful tone as she mockingly asked, "How can we even trust him anymore? What if he's been covering up for that Bang Chan guy this whole time?"

The question seemed to spur everyone else into action as they all continued to push him into a corner. Their accusing words had prompted the bystanders who had previously left Minho alone, to start whispering about him, his reputation and image slowly shattering to bits and pieces. "That's true. I always felt there was something weird about him." "You see him? That's the ghoul's partner." "We shouldn't associate with those kinds of people." "Don't worry he can't hurt us if we're all here."

Minho wanted to fight back, he really did but the stares, the whispers. They all just seemed so confining and suppressing. His empty hand started to tremble slightly, his body following suit. His breathing became irregular as he started to hyperventilate, his pupils dilating. He was going into a panic attack.

It seemed he was saved however as a tall figure had suddenly appeared in front of him, shielding him. It was Hyunjin.

"What's happening over here?" The younger male asked angrily. Everyone in the hallway froze upon seeing Hyunjin's sudden appearance and proceeded to quickly apologize as soon as they came back to their senses. One after another people left, clearly not wanting to be held accountable for anything that was going on.

No one wanted to be the one who had to answer the male's question because if the enraged look that the tall male had on his face was any indication, it was unlikely to be left scott free afterwards. Hyunjin's apparent anger coupled with the knowledge of his parents' identity made for a terrifying combination.

While all of this was going on, Minho took the chance to calm himself down. He regulated his breathing and repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hand in efforts to stop the residual tremor that was racking through his hand. He then stared at Hyunjin's back, silently wondering why the younger male was protecting him.

Seeing as everyone had fled before he could question them, Hyunjin scoffed in irritation. Remembering the bad state that he had seen Minho in earlier, prompted him to leave the matter alone for now as he turned back to face the older. What he didn't expect was to be greeted by Minho's confused and disbelieving expression.

Hyunjin raised his eyebrow in question and asked, 

_"What?"_


	19. The Trial

Minho looked through the glass wall and watched from above as people streamed into the plaza in front of the CCG headquarters. His arm that rested flatly against his side moved as he touched the glass covering the stage below, his eyes glinting with a bit of rage, anger, disgust and disbelief although he himself did not know who it was pointed towards.

The day before, someone had set up a makeshift stage for this very event and today, with hundreds if not thousands of people from all around Seoul they would all watch for themselves as some sort of trial is held to prove whether his mentor, First Class Investigator Bang Chan, was a ghoul or not.

He would very much rather watch the trial from below to see it, but Minho was, whether he liked it or not, a direct associate of the suspect and if his mentor did turn out to be an actual ghoul, it was best if he was as far as possible.

While he may not be a ghoul, others wouldn't think lightly of him since he was a possible accomplice, as most of co-workers had so kindly 'informed' him.

Most that talked about him either weren't paying attention as they walked past him, allowing him to listen in on their whispering, "Look at him. He's staying far away, wonder is it because he already knows what the outcome will be?" "I always thought there was something wrong with him." "He's the guy that everyone's saying to stay away from." "If you see him when you're alone, you should run away. You never know what those kinds of people are thinking."

Minho clenched his fist tightly, nearly drawing blood, and gritted his teeth, setting his jaw. People constantly talked about him, in front of him or not and it was starting to get on his nerves. He doesn't like it, he hated it, despised it, _loathed it_.

Minho really couldn't wrap his head around what was going on in their tiny brains and what moron would even come up with that idea in the first place. However, he wasn't very keen on testing the limits of the idiocy that seemed to plague the majority of the human population, choosing to keep to himself instead as he waited for the entire situation to blow over, 'Honestly, like what sane human would possibly work with a ghoul in the first place?'

'At least not everyone is blinded by foolishness.' Minho thought as he calmed himself and looked to his left. Standing there, looking out the window was a tall figure with dark black hair that contrasted the long white coat he had on.

~*~*~*~*~

It has been days since Seungmin had started to strictly prohibit him from going anywhere without the older's presence. While he knew that his hyung was merely worried for his safety, Jeongin still decided to go out anyway and as a compromise on his part, he made sure he at least wore a pitta face mask even if he was still essentially sneaking out.

Although Jeongin does feel bad for defying his hyung's wishes, there really wasn't much he could do to avoid this. Especially not now that he had been given an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss.

Jeongin, who was originally heading towards a restaurant located just a few stalls ahead, had stopped to watch what was airing on a TV held up on a pole that extended from the ceiling of a random shop as he was passing by. He could clearly see the panic and hear the endless screaming and shouting all the way from the other side of the screen made him take his time to read the headline which just so happens to be the trial that Seungmin had caused.

Remembering how uncertain he was with whether his hyung's actions would succeed or not, he was amazed on how the older teen had actually done it. Not only that, his hyung had even successfully mobilized the public and caused such a huge problem for their enemies. Now that the problem had been made it was just time to wait and see how things played out. For both their sakes, he hoped that no matter what the outcome may be - nothing would affect them too badly.

"Hey kid! Are you coming or not?" a voice called out, snapping Jeongin out of his thoughts.

He quickly shook his head and turned to look at the source of the voice that had called out to him. The said person was accompanied by a few others as they all stood halfway inside of the restaurant and waited for him, holding the door open.

Seeing this, he immediately sprinted towards the entrance, apologizing for getting lost in thought and subsequently delaying the entire group. He followed the waitress as she showed them the way to their table, the door closing behind him as the last person in their group walked through.

  
~*~*~*~*~

Leaping from building to building, a short figure wearing an all black outfit along with a white mask with a terrifying visage, was making his way to the CCG building. He had heard about the trial that was being held at the plaza from a passerby earlier on. He was incredibly bored and seeing as he didn't have anything planned for today. He had decided to sneak out once more just so that he could watch it with his own eyes.

'Should I watch from the plaza?' He asked himself.

He pondered for a bit, seriously considering whether or not to watch the trial with the rest of the people down, in front of the makeshift stage. However, he decided it wasn't worth the risk. He wouldn't want her finding out he had snuck out and he had never been comfortable with being in the presence of people anyway.

He silently moved as he approached the building just across from CCG, having chosen to watch it from the said building's rooftop alone. After looking around for a while, he slowly sat down on the ledge and nodded in satisfaction as he saw that he had a good view of almost everything going on below.

Deciding to get comfortable, he took off his mask to reveal an indifferent look. Placing the mask down beside him, his expression slowly morphed into one filled with curiosity as he watched the large crowd.

He reached into his coat, taking out a jar full of what seemed to be human eyeballs, their optic nerve still attached and placed the jar in the crack of his crossed legs. Opening the jar, he started to watch the event attentively, munching away on his 'snack' and ate them as if they were cherries, tugging on their nerves and hanging them in front of his mouth so he could bite into them, they had the same texture as grapes.

  
~*~*~*~*~

It's been about a week since Chan was arrested and they had finally finished the preparations, the new RC gate standing on top of the makeshift stage. People from all around South Korea had come to attend the trial whether it was reporters who wanted in on any juicy news, families that wanted to ease their worries, the ghoul that had been the cause of the trial or even the two ghouls who were silently praying for Chan's life.

As they had been instructed by Jihyo at the cafe, the two ghouls had come to the trial and stood amidst the massive crowd along with Seungmin who had taken it upon himself to become their 'moral support'.

The journalist was, obviously, untroubled, smiling calmly, not at all worried about the matter at hand. It wasn't as though he believed in Chan or anything of the like. He was just happy that things were going according to plan. While he knew that it wouldn't be easy to take Chan down and knew better than anyone what the investigator was capable of, he didn't think there was anything the male could do to save himself.

To the two older ghouls however, the younger's nonchalance seemed like an unwarranted act of arrogance or perhaps a facade the younger kept up to soothe their own worries. To them, Seungmin had seemed to merely be _pretending_ to be strong - not for his sake but for theirs.

After all, even now both of them were still very much left in the dark on how exactly Chan eludes the gate. San, who was the only one who knew, had only given them the same reply despite the countless times that they have questioned him over the phone throughout the course of the week, "It's not my story to tell."

Trying to convince the older ghoul was like talking to a wall, pointless as well as a huge waste of time and effort. He adamantly refused to give any information, not saying a single word, on the matter. However, San constantly reassured the basically-twin ghouls that everything would be fine, always telling them to trust in him and to trust in Chan.

Of course, it is much easier said than done. Felix was still fear-stricken, heart pounding as he recounted everything that happened to him, his escape, his kidnapping, his salvation, his new home, his new family. It pained him to think that just as everything turned for the better, it all started to come crashing down once more. Yet again, he could lose everything he had but this time it wasn't his choice to make and that terrified him.

Jisung was nervous and constantly fidgeted in his place, trying to let out all the excess energy and the unease that had resulted from his anxious state. He was afraid. Today would most likely dictate how the rest of his life would play out. Whether it's him ceasing to exist, him having to fight Minho who's on the other side, him having to lose the family he had only just met not too long ago.

Not even one conclusion that he drew up in his mind, seemed to be what he wanted. Not a single one played out or ended with them being happy. Perhaps it was the fact that they had been left alone for an entire week to wallow in their increasingly negative thoughts. Whatever it was, Jisung was scared. Moreso for the people he cared for than himself.

Seungmin was also amongst the crowd and was standing with them, doing his best to try to calm Jisung down and keep an eye on Felix. For the past few days, he had 'helped' them by giving all the information he could get his hands on and helped San, who couldn't be there himself, reassure Felix and Jisung whenever they started thinking about Chan or the trial.

Time passed as the group of three delved into their sea of thoughts and soon the crowd had started to roar as a group of investigators could be seen walking out of the building. Ignoring the commotion, the investigators were relaxedly moved towards their assigned stations and silently activated their quinques.

Shortly after, another group of investigators exited the building and with them was the one they were all waiting for - Chan.

~*~*~*~*~

Chan had to stay in the building without any proper accommodation for the past week and frankly he looked terrible.

Although his superiors have all been made aware of his innocence, the people who were assigned to 'guard' him still treated him badly. They were of lower rank since anyone of his status or above was almost always busy. They also had no real obligation to clock in for work seeing as they work solo most of the time and were duty-bound when there was a big mission.

Furthermore, those of lower ranks have been kept in the dark as CCG wanted to avoid any chance of information leaking out prior to the trial. As such, to the lower-ranked investigators that were tasked with guarding Chan, he was merely a criminal who was awaiting his execution. Chan didn't really blame them. Given the circumstances, not many would believe in him.

However, it still didn't relieve his frustrations on the matter. He was basically being treated as a prisoner. He had only been given food once and even so, as Chan had later found out, they had only given it to try and find out for themselves if he was a ghoul. After all, ghouls aren't supposed to be able to take in any form of human food.

It seems that he was doomed to suffer under the hands of idiotic humans though. Well actually, to be fair, it was a smart move on their part but of course to Chan who wants to hide his identity it really was nothing more than bothersome.

Even after eating his whole meal and successfully controlling himself to not show even a single sign of nausea, some people still didn't accept that he wasn't a ghoul. Once again, Chan questions whether they were stupid for not believing after the evidence provided in front of their very eyes or smart for actually being right.

As a result of consuming the food, he had to endure a horrible stomach ache for days and this of course had caused Chan to start inwardly describing his guards using the large variety of colorful words that made up his vocabulary.

For whatever reason, he wasn't provided with a shower stall nor was he given permission to wash up at all, bar the occasional visits to the bathroom for excretory purposes. At this point he really didn't know whether to thank or berate CCG. On one hand, it was an advantage since it meant that his naturally white hair wouldn't be exposed.

On the other, he felt and smelt like shit. The washable hair dye he had been using had been in his hair for far too long and he could feel it irritating his scalp. The constant itch was torturous and Chan really didn't like any of this, thinking that everything he was currently forced to endure was meaningless.

Like couldn't they just let him go home for a bit. He really wanted to get this trial or whatever over with and finally go back to his daily life of having a 'regular' meal with his 'family' and sleeping in an actual fluffy bed that had pillows and cotton sheets. The floor was cold and hard, the lack of blankets wasn't helping either.

He swore that the moment everything turns back to normal, he is going to file a complaint and or sue CCG. Sure he was supposed to be a prisoner right now and whatever but he had already been proven innocent so like - what the actual fuck.

When day of the trial had finally arrived, Chan nearly sobbed in relief. He was escorted by a relatively large group of investigators onto the makeshift stage that was erected in the plaza. As he walked through the entrance, he saw Jackson who silently nodded at him with a small smile on his face.

'I guess not everyone thinks the same after all.'

When the crowd finally saw Chan, the shouting increased drastically and some of the security guards stationed near to the stage had to forcefully shove the crowd back. It still got out of hand and a few investigators had to step in before the people finally gave up and stood back. Seeing the crowd's adverse reaction, the already anxious Felix and Jisung became even more worried about what was to come.

When everyone had settled down and the preparations were finished, Jihyo appeared from within CCG and walked up on stage, standing behind the podium. She stood for a moment and glanced to the side. Getting a single nod from the technicians, Jihyo nodded back and continued to confirm once more that everything was ready. After the final checking was completed, she turned to face the crowd.

Jihyo quickly scanned the crowd and held eye contact with Felix who was in the crowd for a few seconds before proceeding with the trial, "Recently, concerns have been raised that First Class Investigator Bang Chan could potentially be a ghoul due to the article published on a newspaper from Blueprint Publishings."

"In the article, it was speculated that the reason why he can pass through the RC gates is due to the fact that he has cracked through the RC gate's coding thus compromising the gate and in turn CCG's security." She said, speaking into the microphone on the podium, she averted her eyes to his direction. Making eye contact with the battered and in not-so-good shape speculated ghoul.

She then continued, "Today we have called for this conference, or rather, 'trial' to prove whether or not he is, in fact, a ghoul." She pointed to the opposite side of the stage, where Chan was being held back by the other investigators just a few feet away from what looked to be a RC scan gate.

"To my left, is a newly manufactured RC gate that has yet to be used. According to the article, the investigator got through the gate safely due to his tampering with the gate. To show you that this is not true, today, we will be using this gate. Rest assured, Investigator Bang Chan has been under constant surveillance ever since he had been caught and has yet to touch or even come close to an electronic device for him to use to mess with the system."

"Furthermore, we have our very own technicians on the scene with us who will be constantly checking the code while we proceed. Now, First Class Investigator Bang Chan, could you please do the honours?" Jihyo asked, looking at Chan sharply.

Chan, who was being held back by the investigators, was finally let go. Rubbing the sore spot on his shoulder due to an investigator's tight hold on it he stared at the perpetrator, making sure to mentally take note of his appearance.

'After all this is over-'

Jihyo coughed, breaking Chan from his thoughts. He immediately put on a cold face that basically screamed, I'm tired of all of this bullshit.

He walked forward and stopped right before the gate. He then gazed at the audience, letting out a taunting smile before casually passing through the scanner. The same way he did everytime he went for work.

Some people in the audience were visibly confused at the ill-timed action, some staring in disbelief. While the others sneered at the male's smile, thinking that it was just a last jab at them before Chan faced his imminent death and inwardly condemned him to die a cruel death worthy of a ghoul.

To everyone's shock, the gate showed no signs of detecting an anomaly. Nearly everyone present both in and out of the audience watched with their eyes and mouth wide open - they couldn't believe it. The twin's had a similar reaction although their relief was visible; it seemed as though, for once, their prayers had been answered.

"T-that's impossible.." Someone spoke out from within the crowd.

Chan quickly turned his head towards the source of the sound. Seeing the audience's full-blown eyes, he let out a sigh and tiredly retorted, "What? That's still not enough proof for you people?"

"Here, let me do it for you again." Chan said as he began to walk through the gate, again and again and again. Throughout the entire sequence, the gate showed no fluctuations of an irregular RC cell level that was a characteristic to ghouls.

The entire audience was slammed into silence, not a single person could muster up words.

Felix, who was part of the audience, felt relieved that his hyung was safe now. However, he, like the other people, was surprised on how the gate had failed to identify the older as a ghoul. While San had reassured him countless times, he had thought it all to be mere baseless confidence that had come about as a result of the older ghoul's trust in Chan.

The entire time he lived in Australia, nothing like this had ever happened. All the cocky ghouls who tried passing by the gate would immediately get exposed, captured and or killed by the investigators.

He was starting to question whether Chan was actually human but he had seen Chan's kagune with his own eyes, so he was almost certain that the older was a ghoul. He wondered if perhaps everything he knew about ghouls was actually a lie. Suddenly he remembered what San had said last time, maybe Chan was actually special?

Finding a reprieve for his questions, a new one appeared in his mind, 'What exactly is the thing that makes Chan so special, so different from other ghouls?'

Suddenly, the people in the audience had started screaming; some in shock, some in anger and others in pain. Confused at the appearance of the unforeseen event, the investigators on the scene quickly tried to figure out the crux screaming.

It soon became apparent that the issue had stemmed from the hordes of journalists and interviewers. They were climbing over fences and pushing past the security guards as they tried to quickly make their way to Chan who was standing on stage. The sudden influx of people in the area had caused many people to obtain injuries as they had been shoved around, trampled on and crushed in between two bodies.

Seeing how the chaos ensued despite the effort of the other investigators and the security guard, Jihyo took out a gun from the holster of rank 3 investigator next to her and fired a bullet straight up into the air, grabbing the crowd's attention and scaring them into silence as she pointed the gun towards them.

"Enough!" she shouted.

"It's clear that Investigator Bang is not a ghoul and the article published weeks ago has fooled us all. This trial has come to an end. I request everyone to go home." She quipped.

When no one turned to leave she once again calmly ordered, however this was accompanied by a harsh glare, "Now."

Some people listened to her, heading home; some people had to be forcibly removed from the scene by the on-duty guards and investigators; some patiently waited for their hyung to finally return so that they could _all_ go home. As soon as Chan came out of the CCG office, Jisung ran towards the male and jumped on him causing the male to topple over.

"Hyung!" Jisung exclaimed happily after they had got up from the ground, obviously happy to finally be able to see the older face to face after what felt like an eternity. Chan smiled at the younger ghoul and used each of his hands to ruffle the fluffy orange hair, getting off of the ground as he responded, "Hannie! I'm so glad to see you, I missed you!"

"Hyung, hyung, hyung, hyung, hyung, hyu-" Jisung said as he grabbed onto Chan's broad shoulders, harshly shaking the elder's body back and forth. This had almost made the investigator fall over again, although he reckoned it was more due to the fact that he hasn't eaten anything substantial in a week or so, than the younger's strength.

"Yes yes, what is it,?" Chan replied, as he tried to keep his balance - a sad and miserable attempt really, considering how he had only just barely managed to stay upright.

"Since you're free now, we should go and celebrate! I vote that we eat the last batch of cheesecake I managed to not finish during the whole week." Jisung exclaimed, hia eyes sparkling, proud of himself for having come up with such an 'incredible' idea that he was certain 'everyone' would love.

"Whatever you say, Sung. Just keep me out of the cheesecake part ok?" Chan chuckled, ruffling Jisung's hair to which the younger pretended to dislike, 'angrily' huffing. Not that it was fooling anyone - to the older it was as clear as day that the orangette was basically preening at his touch.

Felix, who was watching the two ghouls happily interact with each other, had his hands crossed over his chest, pouting as he felt sad at being left out. While he was more than happy to see Chan again, the blonde teen couldn't help but feel just a little bit jealous that the white-haired ghoul was only paying attention to Jisung; not to mention that he actually wanted to be in the orangette's shoes right now.

After calming the overly excited squirrel, Chan quickly noticed the absence of a certain half-ghoul and looked around. His gaze soon landed on Felix's moping figure. Thoroughly confused on why the younger was like that he questioned the blonde, "Lix?"

"Hmph." Felix looked away, stomping his feet, face clearly turning red in embarrassment. Chan, seeing this, felt as though he had been struck by lightning as he came to a realisation. He chuckled to himself, thinking about how the younger's freckles made his blushing face look like a strawberry and spread his arms wide open.

The blonde was inwardly ecstatic at the gesture but didn't show it, calmly walking up to the older and hugging him. Felix buried his nose into the crook of the older's neck as he hid his face on the elder's shoulder, a couple of words escaping his mouth in a mumble, **"I missed you."**

With the younger having whispered it from where he was - just under his ear - Chan had, naturally, heard him. The older ghoul released the half-ghoul from the hug and softly clasped the younger's cheeks as he moved away a bit to see the younger's face. He lifted the soft blonde bangs from the teen's forehead, kissing it before pulling the male back into his embrace.

Although shocked by the investigator's actions, Felix happily accepted it and hugged Chan even tighter as the older responded, "Me too."

Jisung, who had been silently watching the two ghouls hug, let them have their reunion. However, after some time had passed without the two showing any indication of separation, the orange-haired male couldn't bear with it any longer and quickly joined them making the somewhat intimate embrace turned to a group hug.

Seungmin was the only one who felt awkward as he stood a few feet away from the group. Unlike them, he didn't seem pleased at all, if the frown on his face was any indication; he clenched his fist tightly, his irises flashing red. It was unclear what he was feeling, it didn't seem like anger rather more - conflicted.

While the three were smiling widely, cracking jokes every once in a while as they talked and tried to catch up with what they had been doing; although admittedly, nothing much happened other than them moping around. At the end of the day, they were all just glad that nothing too horrible had happened.

Suddenly a cough could be heard from the side, stopping their chatter. Jihyo who had been the one to grab their attention hesitantly stepped forward, seemingly wanting to say something.

"Hey there, I know you probably don't want to even see me right now let alone talk. I just wanted to apologize for my harsh behaviour back there." she said with an apologetic smile before continuing, "Well, it is my job after all... I really didn't it mean to be mean or anything."

"Hey, don't worry. It's all good now I completely understand you." Chan said, his eyes glinting with a gentle and knowing gaze. He turned to look at the two younger ghouls who had started to, playfully, bicker when they realised that Jihyo had wanted to talk to , "I know you're probably like me."

"You're just trying to keep your loved ones safe." He said, turning to Jihyo with a smile causing her to give him a smile back.


	20. Am I The Villain?

The three ghouls walked back to the cafe happily, catching up on whatever either side missed. Although it wasn't much, they still felt happy to be together again.

Seungmin followed right behind them, Felix having insisted that he come with them to the cafe so they could celebrate Chan's safe return together; the ghoul wanted to thank him for having helped them despite the initial conflict they had got into. The young ghoul clearly looked upset, the hand in his pocket having been clenched tightly ever since the end of the trial.

He stared intensely at the backs of the group of three, poisonous gaze becoming more potent as he looked at Chan. Seungmin couldn't believe it. How could his plan have failed?

He had so cautiously planned everything. Whether it was stalking the man to get as much dirt and evidence he could or the reasons he had used against the investigator, everything was done meticulously. He had poured nearly all the time and effort he could muster into his scheme only to see it fail and flop right as he stood before it. He felt a multitude of emotions: dejection, disappointment, outrage and although he hated to admit it,

_Guilt._

Breaking out of his thoughts, they finally reached the cafe. The familiar glass walls, wooden tables and chairs, the scent of coffee beans, the familiar spruce wood tables and metal chairs. That one week was absolute hell, a 0/10 trip definitely not recommended, he considered writing a bad review for the near death experience, horrible hospitality and rude staff. It was good to be back.

As soon as they entered the house from the back door, Chan headed for the bathroom, wanting nothing more than to take a long deserved shower. The other three males sat in the living room making small talk as they waited for him to join them although Seungmin seemed to refuse to talk unless spoken to, mutedly sitting on the couch and watching the rest.

Thinking that the younger male was just tired, the two older males brushed it off. It was unlikely for their mood to get dampened at the moment, all of them being beyond ecstatic that their family was finally whole.

When Chan came out of the shower half an hour later, he quickly got dressed in his normal fashion - all black casuals. He made a quick stop for the kitchen, grabbing himself a big plate of flesh, feeling starved; bringing it and a fork in his hand, making his way into the living room; a towel hanging around his neck, his natural white hair still partially wet from the shower.

It was the second time Seungmin had ever seen the male in his natural, white-haired state for himself. Even so, he was shocked at the sudden change of hair color and wondered if that was an ability the older had. However, he didn't feel like conversing with the male and decided to keep silent.

It was clear that Chan wasn't normal. The man had passed a legitimate RC scan gate and made it through the trial unscathed, something he hadn't thought was possible. If Seungmin had known about it earlier, he wouldn't have used Blueprint Publishings to frame him.

After a bit of talking, Felix left for the kitchen. He had decided to prepare some refreshments for them; although with all of them being ghouls, it was implied that it was just the usual cup of coffee. Not nearly as good as San's, not even close actually, but definitely more than enough for them.

While in the kitchen, the teen couldn't help but notice a slip of paper that was stuck onto one of their blenders. From what he could make out, it was a grocery list of sorts. As he waited for the water to boil, he approached the white sheet, taking it off and reading it.

**'Things to buy:**

**Coffee beans: arabica & robusta 3kgs**

**Sugar: 3kg**

**Milk: 8 cartons full cream & 6 skimmed**

.

.

.

.

**Cheesecake (more than usual)'**

'Oh... Maybe San hyung was the one who made this.' Felix thought, smiling as he read the little note the older made. He was pretty sure the male had added that to remind himself of Jisung's love for the dessert. Getting lost in thought he began to wonder whether they were going to open tomorrow. Surely, San had watched the trial?

It was likely that the black and quarter white haired male had and Felix felt that there were rather high chances that they would finally open up the cafe tomorrow. The blonde thought about it some more, 'Was this from back when Chan got arrested? If it was, hyung probably hasn't gone to restock yet. Should I check?'

Looking at the still not boiling water, he quickly made a decision and walked to the storage room where the supplies were normally kept. Ruffling through the shelves and the fridge, he found that there was indeed a lack of stock for the items mentioned in the list. He pondered for a moment, 'Maybe I should go out to buy them? Yeah, I think it's better if I did. Just in case we plan to open tomorrow. There's quite a lot though... '

'Chan hyung's probably exhausted and Seungmin is our guest, so I can't ask them... Oh! I'll just get Jisung to go with me.' With his mind now set on what to do, the blonde hastily finished preparing the coffee and returned to the living room, giving Chan and Seungmin a cup each. They were all confused at the action. What had the half-ghoul meant by only giving the coffee to them and not Jisung? Also why hadn't he prepared one for himself?

Jisung was confused and wondered if he had done anything to make his twin mad at them. He glanced at Chan as though asking him about what it was that could have spited the blonde ghoul. Laughing at their distraught faces, Felix told them about the note he had found while he was making the coffee.

"That doesn't explain why I don't get a cup." Jisung whined, pouting. Similarly, the oldest ghoul was confused and had a questioning expression plastered on his face as he gestured for the blonde to continue. Smiling, the half-ghoul replied, "I was hoping you would accompany me since I'm going out to buy the things on the list. I think I need help carrying them back."

Of course, hearing this, Jisung huffed and grumbled, complaining as he puerilely asked why it was only them out of the four people present in the room. Felix calmly replied, "Chan hyung just got back from what was basically jail and is very tired."

"I'm no-" The investigator was cut short by the judgemental gaze the blonde gave him and bit back his words, choosing to nod in agreement instead.

Jisung huffed once more, asking, "What about Seungmin?"

"He's a guest. We do not make guests carry groceries." Felix smiled, as though daring his twin to say something. The orangette whined some more but it seemed like the blonde wouldn't bridge and eventually the older of the two settled down and grumpily replied, "Fine. I'll help."

"It's okay, let me go with you. I can help carry some stuff." Seungmin said, offering help as he tried to keep up his 'caring' facade. Like honestly, which sick bastard decided to invent common courtesy again? It's as if living life and trying to fit into society wasn't hard enough for them without it.

He was hoping that they would disagree; he had no real intentions of helping after all. In fact he would rather stay alone with the white-haired investigator. It was a good chance to get him alone, most likely the only one he would get in a while. Furthermore, the older ghoul was in a weakened state from not eating while he was detained during the course of the week.

_'Truly a good opportunity.'_

"No, no. Like I said to Sungie, you're our guest! Just wait here until we come back, okay?" Felix said, with a cheery smile on his face.

_'Perfect.'_

Seungmin smiled - he would be left alone with Chan. They really had just gone and given him the perfect opportunity to finally kill Chan didn't they? No one will interrupt them since there would be no one else in the building, there would be no one to save the white-haired investigator.

Trying to hide his intentions, he quickly changed his to look a bit hesitant as he looked at Felix, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

Being 'left without much of a choice' Seungmin nodded and 'reluctantly' sat back down on the couch wishing them a safe journey as they walked out the door. He continued his act for a while, wanting to make sure that the duo was far enough before he acted.

In the short time span that he had gathered that he would be alone with Chan, Seungmin had calculated the chances of him emerging victorious in his mind. With the combat prowess that the older male had already shown him, it was highly improbable for him to win against the older one on one. Furthermore, the older had the home ground advantage - he knew the cafe, house and area much better than he did. The older had lived here for years after all.

The rational option would be to flee and leave this behind him, to move on. However, to Seungmin who felt that his family, his happiness, his existence was being threatened that option ceased to even cross his mind as a feasible choice. Their relationship was too far gone to be salvaged.

For what was probably the first time in his life, Seungmin had decided to go against the decision of his more rational side. Even if he knew deep down that what he was doing was nothing short of idiotic, he would do it.

Determined to see his mission to kill Chan through, he silenltly plotted out his murder as his prospective victim sat next to him. He kept running multiple simulations of what he could do, using what he knew to try and find the situation that would give him the best chance for success.

The atmosphere was tense as both of them remained silent for quite some time with Seungmin staring down at the white carpet at the centre of the room, seemingly avoiding the prying eyes that came from the man sitting beside him. Chan smiled softly, finding the younger to be cute as he thought that the younger was shy.

"So, you helped around here when I was away?" Chan suddenly asked, deciding to initiate the conversation since it was clear that the younger wouldn't. Seungmin got 'startled' by the sudden voice and nearly fell from his seat.

_'It should have been more than long enough.'_

"Oi, are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you." Chan reaches out to Seungmin, looking concerned.

_'Naive and gullible.'_

"A-ah yea.. Sorry, I was spacing out for a while. Well, I merely took care of Felix and Jisung and that was it." Seungmin scratched his head, still trying not to look at him.

_'He doesn't have his quinque with him.'_

"I see..." Chan said, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Even so, I want to thank you for that. I know that the boys can be a hassle to deal with sometimes and hearing that you dealt with them maturely despite being only a couple of days apart really is amazing" Chan continued, to which Seungmin nodded his head in acknowledgement.

_'It's likely that he'll rely solely on brute force.'_

With the lack of a reply from the younger, the room turned silent again and Chan couldn't help but feel lost. Was the teen that shy? Or was it that he was terrifying or hard to talk to? Maybe he doesn't want to talk about this?

_'How can I use that to my advanta-'_

Seungmin's thoughts disrupted at Chan's next question, "Do you have siblings?"

"No. I'm an only child" He replied.

_'As if I would tell you.'_

"Ah.." Chan said as he nodded awkwardly as he averted his eyes elsewhere, the tense atmosphere and awkwardness could be felt creeping up the back of his neck, as he slowly hitched in cold sweat as he tried to come up with something to talk about as he nervously smiled at Seungmin, while in a daze.

He didn't realise that Seungmin had noticed and decided to use this opportunity given by his vulnerable state at the current moment, readying himself to stake out the first strike. With his kagune slowly emerging from behind him, his irises turned bloodshot red and his sclera turned pitch black. His anger and rage burned from within like a ravaging fire eating away ravenously at the wood in a fireplace, waiting to release everything pent up from within like a dormant volcano outbursting after being in slumber for centuries.

Just then, he felt his phone vibrate from his coat's pocket, startling both him and Chan out of their focused states. He silently cursed at whoever it was that had such 'perfect' timing. Seeing Chan turn to look at him, Seungmin quickly reached into his pocket, willing himself to calm down so as to not let Chan see the state of his eyes. Luckily, Chan didn't seem to notice anything unusual and Seungmin took his phone out. Checking who had texted him through the lock screen, the young teen's enraged mind had started to calm down.

It was Yeosang.

The said man had sent him what seemed to be quite a few messages. Seungmin thought about whether he should read the messages but decided against it after looking at the ghoul who was beside him, and put his phone back on sleep mode as he left it in his hand as he focused on his coffee instead, picking it up from the table and leaning back on his seat as he took a sip.

"Are you not going to check? I don't mind." Chan urged, pointing at the phone the younger held in his hand. He didn't think that there would still be someone in this day and age who would still stop themselves from looking at their phones. It seemed that the younger just hadn't wanted to seem rude. Chan really couldn't help but find the younger's actions cute.

Now that his target had basically started to stare at him, Seungmin knew that the opportunity had passed. He swore at himself, he should've moved faster, he should've just gotten it over with, he should've just thrown caution to the wind.

_'Too late now. I'll have to wait for the next opportunity to show itself.'_

Trying to act natural, he shyly nodded, typing in his password and opening his messenger.

After reading what Yeosang had sent him, Seungmin, who only had a short opportunity to cool down and rethink, felt his blood boil.

Yeosang had sent him a sequence of messages telling him that their publishing department is receiving heavy backlash and criticism over the article that Seungmin had suggested they use. The entire editorial board has been called by the boss for a 'meeting'. It was likely that they would all get laid off.

The article had cooked up to big of a storm and with CCG backing the decision it was unlikely for them to be able to deal with the consequences. Yeosang reassured Seungmin that he didn't hold anything against him and that none of this was his fault. The last message addressed how he wished Seungmin the best and hoped they could still keep in touch, even if they wouldn't be able to see each other the next day at work.

He clenched his hand around his phone, grinding his teeth in his mouth. First, Jeongin got hurt and lost his freedom, then all his efforts went to waste and now this?! Ever since he came across these people, his life has been going nowhere but downhill. He hated this and everyone involved in this, especially him.

If Chan hadn't come for Felix that night, Jeongin could've roamed around freely without fear. If Chan hadn't appeared that night, he wouldn't have to live in fear. He wouldn't have had to put his friend's job in danger. He wouldn't need to worry. He wouldn't be pressured by guilt. He wouldn't have to go against himself. He wouldn't have had to go through hell.

 _None_ of it would've happened, if it weren't for the man sitting just a few feet away from him.

He stood up from his seat and faced Chan, glare becoming increasingly heated. The burning rage that could be felt from a lightyear away, his eyes that looked like a gate to hell, a fiery outrage.

"Hm, Seungmin? Is there something wrong buddy?" Chan asked in confusion, tilting his head as he wondered why the younger had suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Don't you dare _'buddy'_ me, asshole." Seungmin said as his eyes turned red, two red limbs emerging from behind his back. The white haired male was stunned still by the teen's sudden change in behaviour but before he could react, the younger had already extended his limbs towards him, wrapped them tightly around Chan's throat.

With his throat being forced shut, Chan was left with no air causing him to choke and desperately claw at the red limbs, trying his best to loosen its hold on him. His face turned red as the lack of oxygen sent his blood rushing upwards.

He writhed in Seungmin's hold, thrashing about, as he tried to talk to the younger. However, with his respiratory tract being clamped firmly, nothing but a mere few grunts and gurgles made it past his mouth.

Seungmin watched how the older ghoul suffocated and pushed the walls of Chan's throat impossibly closer as he tightened his grip around the older's neck. Hearing the man's pained grunts and faint whimpers made him snicker as he held the older up in the air, blatantly glaring at him with what could only be described as utmost contempt.

Chan panicked as he struggled, he didn't know what to do. He was in the dark as to why the younger would have suddenly attacked him and didn't want to hurt the teen but he couldn't just let himself get killed. Not when he had just barely gotten back his freedom. He gritted his teeth in frustration, he wondered why something always had to happen just as things were starting to look up?

An overflowing river of thoughts gushed forth as Chan steeled himself, suddenly stopping his thrashing. He clamped his hands around the younger's kagune as he lowered his gaze, his damp hair fell in front of his eyes casting a shadow, hiding them from view. Immediately afterwards four tentacle-like limbs burst from behind him.

Seungmin reacted quickly and jumped backwards but due to Chan's hold on his kagune, he couldn't completely move himself away. Chan stabbed at the teen's kagune, ripping it apart as blood gushed all over the white rug and wooden flooring.

The force of Seungmin's jump coupled with the sudden release of the older's hold, sent the younger ghoul tumbling across the room, breaking all the furniture that stood in between his path towards the concrete wall. Slamming his side against the wall, the younger ghoul tried to move and sit upright as he grunted in pain, clutching the injured area.

Chan had ended up on the floor on all fours, wrapping his left hand gently across his bruised and sore throat, coughing and gasping for air. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he regulated his breathing and held onto the couch, pulling himself off of the ground.

Stumbling on his feet a bit, Chan regained his balance and turned to face the younger who was still struggling to get up. Unlike the older ghoul, the teen didn't have anything that he could lean on or use to prop himself up.

Chan's hair parted, revealing his left eye and its bright red iris. He lunged forward with immense force, breaking the floorboard beneath him. Seungmin quickly dodged, causing the older man to propel himself towards the wall. As Chan rammed into the wall, he rapidly twisted around, lashing out as he swung his kagune at Seungmin, the fight continuing as the intensity of the situation spiked.

Just then, the front door slammed open, having been opened by a kick as a ragged Jisung entered the room.

"Sungie! Be careful! Don't destroy the door again or else hyung's going to get mad!" Felix shouted from where he stood in the cafe out front.

"My bad!" Jisung replied, turning back to the older momentarily. He then made his way to the living room calling out to Chan in confusion, "Channie Hyung? Felix didn't know where you usually get supplies so we were wondering w-"

Jisung, who had suddenly intruded into their fight, stood frozen in shock for a few seconds only just realizing their situation, his eyes widening as he tried to process the situation in front of him, exclaiming "Hyung?!"

Seungmin, taking advantage of the older teen's dazed state, used his now healed kagune to shoot the ghoul out of the living room and crashed into the wall in the hallway. After regaining his bearings, Jisung screamed out for Felix.

Noticing the orange-haired male call out for help, Seungmin paled and rushed towards him. He grabbed Jisung's head and slammed it against the wall causing the older teen to start bleeding. However, just as he was about to knock Jisung out, a red limb had gotten in his way. Forced to dodge, he took the chance to grab the nearest object and throw it at Chan, keeping the male away from him.

Chan stood in front of Jisung in a protective stance, all four limbs extended behind him. Seeing the blood flowing from the wound on the younger's head, he snapped his towards Seungmin angrily and leaped at Seungmin. Felix walked to this exact scene, having run all the way from the kitchen after hearing Jisung's call.

He was surprised to see the two males fighting, noticing Jisung who was sprawled on the floor near a few blood splatters, holding his head while grunting in pain; leaning on the wall behind him, a big dent imprinted on it. Feeling worried for the orange haired teen's well being, he quickly approached Jisung who was still lying on the floor.

The blonde moved his twin's body so that it laid against the wall before grabbing onto the orangette's shoulders, shaking his body vigorously to not let the male pass out, making sure to still be careful so as to not aggravate the older's injury, "Sungie! You have to stop Chan hyung and Seungmin from fighting. I can't do this myself."

Jisung grunted in pain, slapping the younger's hands away as he tried to fix his position - after he managed to sit up straight, he informed the younger of his situation, "Lix, my head is spinning and literally bleeding. I can't do anything useful unless I somehow manage to heal and that's going to take some time, a few minutes at least, without eating anything. At most I can slow down Seungmin for a second or two."

Hearing that, the thought of sprinting into the storage room and taking a body part of some sort and giving it to Jisung crossed Felix's mind but after giving it a second thought, he realized that it would likely take too much time - time that they did not have. Panicked, the blonde's mind ran a thousand mile marathon trying to think of what to do.

A sudden irrational thought came into mind. With seemingly no other ideas that would come to mind any time soon he threw away any hesitation he felt. Rolling up the sleeve of his shirt as fast as he could, he shoved his arm in front of Jisung and exclaimed, "Bite into my arm, now!"

Jisung looked at him as though he had suddenly become a senile old man who was strapped to a bed in some random hosital's psychic ward as he yelled, "What?! Do you realize how crazy that sounds?! That's cannibalism, I can't do that!"

Felix, obviously, agreed with Jisung. He couldn't deny the fact that his proposal sounded insane and that he was acting like a down-right lunatic but it wasn't like they had much of a choice. Thinking back to how 'The Marionette' had been rather adamant in trying to eat him back when he had tried to run away and how he's theoretically only half-ghoul, despite exhibiting more ghoul characteristics than human, the blonde reckoned that his flesh would probably be similar - if not better than - regular human flesh.

With that in mind he just shoved his hand in front of the older's mouth as he ushered the orangette, "Trust me, it won't be as bad as you think it is! Besides, we don't have much of a choice! Hurry!"

'And I'm the one who's supposed to be the idiot?' the older thought, trying to push the blonde away from him. The injured ghoul was just about ready to scold the male, only to hesitate for a moment upon seeing how desperate the other's expression was. He begrudgingly nodded, slowly opening his mouth and taking a bite out of Felix's arm. "Ah! Be gentle will you?!"

"Well you didn't tell me- wow Lix, you taste really good." The older twin said as he continued to bite off even more flesh from the younger's arm, chewing on the bits in his mouth as the sweet and delectable flavour that came with the younger's flesh and blood wafted through his mouth.

The orangette fervently slurped up any blood that escaped through the wound as he felt the pain in his head and other parts of his body quickly start to dissipate. Soon enough, he was able to stand up on his own. Jisung turned to look at the two ghouls fighting each other, his scleras turning black as he willed his bikaku out from his lower back. Jumping towards Seungmin, the orangette managed to catch the younger off guard and trapped the younger in his hold.

On the other hand, Chan, who was just about to attack, stopped himself upon seeing Jisung join the fight - not wanting to accidentally hurt the orangette. Seeing the older ghoul finally come to his senses, Felix approached the older before he could rejoin the other two to ask and see if he was injured. The white-haired male shook his head to reassure the blonde that he was fine and did the same to the younger.

"I'm fine." The half-ghoul replied.

Chan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn to go and help Jisung when he noticed the scent of blood coming from Felix. He snapped his head towards the blonde's figure, his eyes quickly landing on Felix's bleeding arm from which he could see the younger's bones peak out and started to panic.

However, before the white-haired male could let his worries out, Jisung excitedly celebrated as he let the two know that he was able to grab the raging journalist by the waist using his kagune. The younger ghoul was, as expected, less than happy at his failure. Seungmin thrashed around in Jisung's clutches, cursing at himself for having miscalculated and letting his guard down.

He shouldn't have done that no matter whether or not he had thought that he had successfully knocked the orange-haired ghoul or not. A rookie mistake on his part - one that had ultimately cost him his revenge.

"Let go of me! I _need_ to kill him!" Seungmin screamed out loud, violently jerking about, as he tried to free himself from Jisung's grip. The older twin furrowed his brows as he tightened his grip in order to stop the younger teen from moving before looking to Chan in question, "What did you do to make him want to do all of this anyway hyung? Wait! Did you... did you eat his cheesecake without permission or something?!"

Ignoring the orangette's baseless accusations that made no sense whatsoever - like where the hell did he even get that idea? - Chan looked at Seungmin in anger as he screamed back, "Kill me?! We barely know each other! What the _**fuck**_ did I ever do to you?!"

Seungmin's expression became even more enraged after hearing Chan, pushing against Jisung harshly, wanting to kill the white haired male more than ever before. If he had thought he was keen on murdering Chan before, he wasn't ever nearly as close to how dead set he felt now.

Struggling to reach Chan, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "What have you done? What have you done?!" Seungmin said as he got even more angry, Jisung struggled to avoid losing his grip on the younger.

"Ever since we met in that alleyway, my life has been slowly going to hell! You almost killed the only one I have left! My family! How could I ever forgive you?!" He paused as he tried to lunge forward but remembered that he was at a disadvantage. It was near impossible for him to fight all three of them. He stopped himself, recoiling at the action - but only very slightly - the same anger pent up inside him.

'When I can't even forgive myself?' He added in his mind, putting his head down in pity for himself and directed more of his anger through his eyes as he looked back up at Chan.

"What? When did I-" Chan tried his best to recollect, he tried to remember what exactly had happened. Just then it had hit him, the moment he said something about the alleyway, something clicked, 'Wait! The night Felix ran away!'

"You're _The Marionette_ , aren't you?!" Chan shouted in realization.

Felix was surprised at the sudden mention of the familiar name. Of course the name had immediately brought up bad memories for both him and Chan although, admittedly, one of them much more than the other. Amidst all this, the orange-haired teen had a confused look on his face, not knowing what was going on; having never been told the exact details of what had happened that fateful night.

"Huh? What do you mean 'Marionette'? Is that like a new cheesecake store or something?" Jisung asked, looking genuinely curious with large doe eyes glistening with interest. With no one showing any signs of wanting to willingly answer his rather untimely question, the teen proceeded to pout and whine, not wanting to be kept out of the loop.

Seungmin gritted his teeth as he grinned at Chan's stupidity for only finding out what he did only now, imagine chasing after someone for revenge.

"Took you long enough to find out!"

"I did everything to kill you, so why don't you just do me a favor and die?!" Seungmin shouted as he sounded as if he was giving up on trying. He didn't know what else to say nor what to do anymore.

"You tried to kill Felix!"

"Fine, I'll admit that I was wrong for targeting Felix." Seungmin said as he continued, "But can you really blame me though?! Not all of us ghouls live a fulfilling life in a fancy fucking cafe with proper electricity and running water! Not everyone is in a state where they can easily hunt for food and give it away to people!"

"Heck have some brains! If all of us were so well off, you wouldn't even need to be giving away flesh in the first place!" He took deep breaths as he could feel himself breaking down but tried his best to put up a front, to prevent exposing his vulnerable side and making himself seem 'weak'.

"Some of us have no choice but to live in abandoned lots underground. Some of us are struggling financially! Some of us are forced to hunt and kill despite not wanting to live with the guilt of killing!" Seungmin said as he hitched his breath, he realised how sad his state was, time and time again.

He mustered up his voice once more as he continued, "You know what's even sadder? I'm one of those people. Me - the one who seemingly has no remorse or regard for life. The one who seems so dead set on getting revenge? Well let me tell you my side of things. I was hungry and I needed to survive. I live in a bad neighbourhood with no damn goodie two shoes like yourselves to help out and you guys just so happened to come into my territory. What was I supposed to do? Reject food? Go rot and die in some alleyway?"

"Not to mention that with all of you CCG bastards roaming around even at night makes it harder for us to hunt for food and we have to live in constant fear. We have to live knowing that one day we might never be able to make it back to whatever shitty place we decided to call our home!" As he said that he could feel emotions of sadness, slowly taking over him as he sounded more sad rather than angry.

"So hard in fact, that even a goddamn S ranked ghoul like me has to use my one and only loved one as living bait! Over half of the humans that step into a dark alleyway at night die the minute they do so and Jeongin? He had to do it almost every week for the past year!" Seungmin added, his sadness becoming even more prominent, his anger slowly being overruled by his sadness from the many years of suffering that he and Jeongin had to go through.

"I went to hunt that night because I needed it to survive. I find my prey, dear little Felix over here, only for you mister Bang Chan to show up and ruin everything. Putting Jeongin's life in harm's way. Do you know how painful it was knowing that the reason some you love get hurt was because you were so powerless to do anything?! Do you?!" he finished, as he finally broke down, as he could feel tears streaming down his cheeks and his breaths hitching continuously.

Chan saw his state, as he felt extremely sorry for Seungmin, however he wasn't sure whether to try and console him as he figured that Seungmin didn't actually want them to see his vulnerable side, so he had decided to keep quiet.

"It's not like I wanted to but I couldn't just leave the matter alone, not knowing whether you would come after Jeongin's life or not. If I was the only target I would've damn well left you alone but with Jeongin in the question? Never. As a ghoul you know very well that I- No. We don't have a choice. We never do." Seungmin said in a pause. His tears had dried and their glossy sheen could be seen on his cheeks.

"Let me ask you again. Felix just happened to be there that night when I was hunting. What was I supposed to do?! Huh?! Tell me! What was I supposed to do?! Starve?! Die?! Disappear?! Fall off of the edge of the earth?!" As he looked at Chan, as his face hardened, looking down as he clenched his hand tightly.

Seungmin looks at all of the people in the room and with no expectations of an answer as he asks, "Even if I die. Yeah sure let's say that by some magical force I just do that and I die. Case solved right?"

"Wrong." Seungmin says in response to his own question.

_"If I die, what happens to Jeongin?"_

Seungmin watched as everyone stayed silent, not knowing what to say. He then continued once more, "I'm speaking from my heart and I'm a hundred percent honest with you when I say I don't fucking care what happens to me. If my death means that Jeongin is safe I would gladly give it up but we all know that the only way me and him get to live our lives in peace is if you die."

"I'm not an idiot. I know how fucked up the world is. So, no. I don't expect you to forgive me or for everything to suddenly turn into sunshine and rainbows. I'm not telling you any of this to stop you from killing me. The only thing that I regret and will ever regret doing is bringing Jeongin anywhere close to this mess."

_"I just don't want to die as the villain that I'm not."_

He turned to face Chan, as he looked at them, "I don't hate you. You're good people at heart and I can see that. So clearly in fact, I really did feel bad for what I did. None of it however changes the fact that you are nothing more than a stranger. I had to choose. It was either you guys or Jeongin. If you had to choose between the life of someone you loved or someone you barely knew, who would you choose, huh?!"

Jisung and Felix looked at Seungmin in sadness as tears formed in their eyes as they tried not to make a sound. Chan clenched his fist at how cruel life was, so cruel that it had even forced such a young person to need to do all of this, to feel all of this.

"Tell me!" Seungmin shouted before breaking out into small giggles as he whispered under his breath, "Know that in this lifetime I will always refuse to be the villain. Because from my point of view, you are the villain. Not that any simple minded people like you who can only see the world as black or white will understand anyway."

The twins got scared and jumped at the sudden outburst while the oldest ghoul looked away unable to bear seeing the other break down, staying silent as he thought about how bad he felt for asking Seungmin that question, what did he ever do to Seungmin? It seems like to the younger, he did everything.

He regretted asking that, he didn't think that someone so young had to go through all hardships and while he understood why Seungmin did what he did it didn't make what he was about to do any easier. Chan looked down as his hair formed a shadow over his eyes. He was about to walk Seungmin when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Lix, let me go." Chan softly whispered to the blonde who was currently trying holding him back. The twins exchanged glances before they both looked at the older ghoul intensely, hesitating, not really sure whether they could trust him to not suddenly attack. The white-haired male sighed and gave them both a reassuring smile, "I won't do anything bad."

" I promise." The two looked at each other for confirmation before nodding and taking back their hands from where they were caging him, "Okay..."

Chan ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back as he slowly approached Seungmin, starting to confront the younger's previous outburst, "Believe it or not... "

His eyes became glazed with pain and sorrow as he continued, "I also had to see humans that I was... close to get really hurt. I'm not going to say I understand exactly how you feel but we're similar. More so than you think."

With the bad memories rushing through his mind, Chan smiled at Seungmin and although it was filled with pain, anyone could tell that it was genuine. "We're both at fault but at the same time we didn't really do anything wrong." He sighed, "How about I start?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your friend, Jeongin was it? Well, I did anyway and for what little it's worth for you, I'm sorry. For everything that I've done to you and your human companion. Intentional or not. Unknowingly or not. I'm sorry."

Seungmin went still in shock, he had many different expectations on what the older would do once he found out that he tried to kill him and many of them involved hate him, killing him and possibly even hunt Jeongin down; however not in a single one of them had he expected for Chan to apologize to him as he was right now.

The guilt that had stemmed from what he had done for the past few weeks rushed forward as he caved, body dropping to the floor limply as he sobbed. Begging and pleading for forgiveness over and over again, despite it having already been given, "I'm sorry!"

"I know you are." Chan said as he smiled softly, kneeling in front of Seungmin, reaching out his hand for Seungmin to take.

Seungmin realized that all this time it was his anger and guilt that had caused his mind to become clouded, warping reality to his favour, to make him forget that the one of the reasons any of this had actually started was _him_. Due to his inability to cope with the stress, the frustration and the guilt. He felt bad for himself and in his attempt to give reason for his actions, he distorted the truth.

"Y-you're an idiot, you know? You should've killed me..." Seungmin mumbled, his voice raspy, body and mind worn out, as he took Chan's hand and obliged a handshake.

"I know." Chan said, nodding as he looked at Jisung, indirectly telling him to release him which he did, allowing the white haired male to bring the younger into his arms.Burying his head into the older male's shoulder Seungmin quietly asked, "Why? Why would you let me live?"

"You deserve more than death. All of us do." The white-haired male added. Looking around the room the youngest ghoul smiled and then turned to finally address the elephant in the room,"Hey Felix?"

"Yeah?" Felix said, scared of Seungmin as he saw all the anger and rage the younger felt, that happened because of his stupidity by running away. If he hadn't jumped out that window, none of this would have happened. The younger ghoul proceeded to apologize, "I'm really sorry for almost eating you-"

"It's fine. I'm over it now. Let's just never talk about it ever again." Felix said, in a cool manner, pretending to be brave, when in actuality he was shaking in fear. The blonde was glad he managed to pull it off well as he thought, 'We can all be friends after all.'

"Ok so since we're cool now I just want to say how dare you slam me to a wall I will perso-" as soon as Jisung saw the two made up, he took the chance to say his piece, only to get interrupted by Chan, "Sung, let's not do that right now. We can work this out some other day, okay?"

Jisung nodded, although he was evidently sulky about it. Felix, although finding it funny, went up to his older twin to hug him, rubbing his back in hopes that it would be enough to console the orangette.

Looking at Seungmin, Chan then asked, " I remember you mentioned something about living in an abandoned place or something like that?" To which the ghoul, despite being incredibly confused on where this was going gave a positive response, "Yeah, me and Jeongin both."

'He really is cute. Like a lost little puppy.' thought the white-haired ghoul as he gave a warm, dimpled smile and proposed to the said male, "In that case, Seungmin, how would you and your human companion like to come and stay here at the cafe with us from now on?" 


	21. Well Hello There

After being given only a day off of work from the incident, Chan was instructed to immediately go to work; as if nothing had happened two days prior, Although every inch of his body was practically screaming at him to not go and to sleep in instead, he grudgingly went to work.

Despite having less than an ounce of energy left in him after the whole feud with Seungmin and the company, he didn't want to start another problem, especially not so soon after the trial. The inner battle with himself on whether to disobey orders or not had frustrated him greatly. Is it so hard to get a couple days off? After nearly being murdered twice in the span of a week? Not that CCG knew or was involved in the second attempt - but still.

"Of course they'd pretend they hadn't treated me like absolute shit, proceeding to tell me to do shit. How typical..," Chan grumbled to himself as he walked through the ever-so-familiar plaza.

As the black haired investigator approached the entrance, he added more force to his steps as his normal gait morphed into something more akin to stomping; as much as how one could replicate stomping while walking that is.

The loud footsteps he made as he passed through the gate echoed through the rather deserted lobby, alerting the few inhibitors that someone had just entered the building. Jackson, who was and is still the guard stationed near the gate, had clearly seen the younger male's actions, tried not to show his worry for the investigator and greeted him in a sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes, "Morning Chan! Wow.. you seem to be in such a.. great mood today..."

Chan stopped and stared at Jackson for a while and let out an exasperated sigh and showed the older male a defeated look, as he let out a forced smile. He then replied to Jackson with the exact same sardonic tone, making sure to emphasize certain words, " _Gee_ hyung, I'm _so_ glad you noticed! I think it's due to the fact that I'm _treated so damn nicely here_!"

Jackson looked at him seriously before throwing his face to the side, covering his mouth as his shoulders shook wildly. The younger male couldn't help but gawk at the guard's reaction. Had he said something funny?

After some time of him just standing silently and watching the older laugh, the man had finally explained that he had just found Chan so childish and cute when he complained like this and couldn't help but laugh. Chan let out an annoyed sigh but reflected on his actions as he genuinely smiled and apologized to Jackson for his rude behaviour before the two parted, continuing their day.

Basically dragging his feet along as he walked, Chan inwardly wondered what was so 'important' that he was required to go to work. Sure, he had to take care of Minho and what-not, However he was quite certain that everyone knew that he said he could take care of himself. Anyone could tell that in any case it was Minho who was more responsible anyway.

All that Chan was told by his superiors was that he had been assigned a job that they could only rely on him to do, as he was the only one they could 'trust'. After all, he was the one who was actually proven to be human and although the article had been nothing more than a hoax, it had shown them the possible breaches CCG had in their security system. This amongst other things, caused most of the investigators of higher rank and authority to become extremely busy.

Even while lost in his musings, he didn't fail to notice a certain familiar face with another not-so-familiar face, talking to each other. Due to his immense shock at the scene in front of him, his jaw dropped, leaving his mouth wide open as a chaotic whirlwind of thoughts crossed his mind, 'Isn't that Minho? And is he actually willingly talking to someone? Oh my god how long have I've been away?! Is it really him? No. Maybe an impostor?'

Suddenly thinking of something, Chan felt imaginary tears stream down his face as he looked away, unable to face the younger male anymore, 'Could it be? Am I really that hateable?'

Minho, who was slowly getting annoyed by the younger investigator next to him, noticed Chan and took the chance to step away from the younger male as he moved forward and bowed down slightly, greeting Chan with his usual formality-filled manner, "Good morning, sir. It's a pleasure to see you again."

The other male was taller than both him and Minho with distinct facial features; namely, his sharp jawline, narrow eyes and the beauty mark placed just under his eye. He had long, slightly curled black hair and wore a long white coat which complemented his lean figure. Chan didn't recognise him but was sure that the male was a lower rank than himself.

In sharp contrast to Minho, who was likely the same rank as the male, he had only bothered to give Chan a slight nod and a smile in greeting.

Somehow, despite not liking formalities much, the oldest male became a little irritated but quickly started questioning himself, 'Is it because I'm used to Minho? Or am I slowly becoming one of those stupidly annoying arrogant basta- No, no. It's Minho. Definitely Minho.'

Chan quickly smiled back at the young investigator and introduced himself, not wanting to show his slight annoyance. He couldn't let Minho affect him. He was the teacher here after all. Minho should follow his habits, not the other way around.

"Oh you must be Minho's mentor, right? Hwang Hyunjin, Rank 2 Investigator. It's nice to finally meet you." Hyunjin introduces himself, smiling warmly.

After hearing the younger's name Chan tried but failed to suppress his curiosity and raised his eyebrows as he thought, ' _Hwang_? Could it be..?'

Chan, like most other investigators who had actively worked on the field, knew of the highly reputed Hwangs. The now married couple were both former high class CCG investigators, one being a Special Class and the other an Associate Class, who were still looked up to as role models to many of the new recruits.

Although Chan himself had never got the chance to see them in action, what he had heard from the stories that people had passed on, were more than enough to cement his thoughts about them being extremely powerful and capable individuals. At some point he had even mused about how it would probably be the best for him to not associate with them and had prayed that they would never have an encounter.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what seems to be the occasion? You know, since you two were.. uh.. Talking?" Chan asked out of curiosity. Even though it was nice to finally see Minho talk to someone other than him, knowing his mentee's 'quirky' character, it made him wonder how they got acquainted and why they were talking in the first place.

"Oh right! I just thought that since the three of us are going to be working with each other for a while it would be great to get to know my teammates better, you know?" Hyunjin replied in a calm manner.

"Ah yeah. That's nice of y- Wait... working together? What do you mean working together?" Chan asked, his face contorting in confusion.

"Eh? Didn't you hear?" Hyunjin asked, similarly confused.

"No?"

Seeing the two males just staring confusedly at each other, Minho quickly tried to disperse the awkward tension and explained to Chan, "The office assigned you to be Hyunjin's temporary mentor for the time being."

"Huh?!" Chan exclaimed, so surprised that he couldn't even keep his mouth shut. Feeling disbelief at the sudden information he looked to Hyunjin and asked once more for confirmation, silently crossing his fingers, hoping that it was just some misunderstanding, "Are you sure there wasn't a mix-up?! Me?!"

Hyunjin rubbed the back of his neck , nodding as he replied, "Yeah. Unless the person who told me of the changes somehow messed up the orders from up there, it's unlikely to be wrong so... Apparently my previous mentor along with some other high class investigators were severely injured during a mission and now you're the only investigator available for the mentoring job."

'Hm... Now that I think about it, I wonder what actually happened?.' Hyunjin pondered, putting it at the back of his mind, 'I'll have to ask mother and father when I get home.'

After the short pause he continued to speak with a cheery tone, "Anyways I look forward to working with you guys~"

Failing to realize the stressed expression on Chan's face when Hyunjin had concluded their conversation, the youngest investigator smiled happily and started to bother Minho once more.

'Another potential murderer. Fantastic.' Chan thought to himself, sighing softly, 'I have to babysit more children? It's as though the world doesn't think that Jisung, Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin and Minho was enough and decided to chuck yet another one my way... Oh lord please help me...'

After thinking about it for a bit, Chan reassured himself. Who knows? Maybe hyunjin was a responsible person and he didn't need the older to take care of him all the time. If the younger was nice enough, he could even help him take care of Minho!

Hyunjin seemed like a friendly and laid back person so they could probably get along better as well. Maybe with the new addition to the team, especially someone who clearly likes socializing, Minho would finally be more open and maybe they all finally be friends.

Chan smiled thinking of the possibility of getting rid of at least one child that he needed to take care of and beckoned the two over, walking away as he said, "I guess I don't have much of a choice. Well then, shall we go to the training grounds?"

~*~*~*~*~

Chan was finally done with work and was currently walking towards the cafe, all-the-while feeling exhausted. While he knew that being a mentor to yet another investigator would be draining, he didn't know it would tire him this much.

As he was contemplating whether or not he should stay in CCG, he saw Seungmin and Jeongin up ahead, who were supposedly on their way home as well. Deciding that he didn't really want to walk all the way back alone while wallowing in self pity, he rushed forward to join the two.

"Seungmin! Jeongin! Wait for me!" Chan exclaimed as he used up all the energy he had left to catch up to them. Hearing his call, the two younger males stopped in their tracks and turned their heads back.

When he had finally caught up, the two males immediately smiled and greeted the older man. Chan grinned widely as he slung his arms over each of their shoulders, only letting go of Seungmin as the height difference made it hard for him to walk. Happily, the three males started to talk about their day.

Surprisingly, over the last two days, the young teens had fully adjusted to their new lives in the cafe which was much better than expected. It wasn't easy to adapt to a huge change in environment and this was especially true since one of them was in fact a human.

It relieved him to see that they hadn't had any problems since they moved. Well, if you don't count Seungmin's frequent playful yet alarming death threats that were, for the most part, unsurprisingly aimed at Jisung.

Scary and terrifying? Yes. Harmful? Not really. Chan felt that it was fine since they were still young and most young people would find it harder to get along than adults. Teens don't exactly like to compromise after all so he left them be. Children will be children.

Reaching their home soon after, Chan unlocked the back door as Jeongin shuffled to his shared room to change and Seungmin announced their presence to the rest of the house residents, "Guys, we're home!"

Felix, who just so happened to walk past the corridor, greeted them with a wide, crescent-eyed smile, replying, "Oh, you're back! San hyung and I decided to prepare dinner for all of you so I suggest you quickly wash up before eating."

Chan's eyes immediately lit up at the mention of food, his thoughts now only revolving around eating, his mouth starting to water. Not wanting to test the younger ghoul's possible threats of starvation, he quickly placed his briefcase down and ran towards the bathroom to take a quick shower; although he was more than sure the younger wouldn't do it, Felix was practically an angel in disguise after all,

Seungmin looked at Felix and nodded before realizing the ghoul's outfit: a striped lightweight windbreaker that had the colors yellow, grey, and white from the bottom up; light blue jeans, and a pair of dark grey Jordan 1s. Almost instantly he questioned the blonde, "Felix, are you not eating with us?"

"Yeah... I- I don't really eat... flesh, remember?"

Seungmin's face contorted in realisation, an apologetic look appearing as he shuffled his feet in hesitation before replying, "Ah right. Sorry... I'm not really used to that yet. It's just so weird for me, you know? Anyways, does that mean that you're going out exploring the city again?"

Felix nodded, clearly not offended by the younger's words, his expression clearly showing his enthusiasm. The past two days since the trial, he had been going out quite frequently during meals, wanting to explore as much of Seoul as he could since he no longer had a particular reason to not go out anymore.

Aside from his unique scent of course, but he didn't want to let it stop him. Priorly, he hadn't been allowed to go out alone by Chan due to the impending threat that came with having a unique scent and the fact that he himself didn't know the streets of Seoul well, making him susceptible to getting lost.

The problem of him not knowing the city well was easily fixed after a few lessons from Seungmin ang Jisung on how to use Naver Maps properly. After pestering Chan for a few hours, the oldest finally conceded and agreed. Ofcourse, not before the man made it clear for Felix to be extra careful and giving him excessive warnings and reminders to not follow in his older twin's footsteps, doing anything even remotely close to stupid enough to get himself hurt.

However, there wasn't anything much that he could do to change his scent, except cologne or perfume but even then it barely helped to mask his scent from the other ghouls. He had learnt to just accept it and in an attempt to avoid any mishaps, he had made sure to only go out when there was daylight, visit the more crowded places and avoid any type of shortcut that involved shady alleyways, even if it meant that he would have to walk the extra mile.

Even with the burdensome circumstances, Felix was still very much excited every time he went out and always looked forward to seeing whatever he could find during his exploration. He could finally do what he had intended when he had first come to South Korea; live a free life with no one to dictate his actions.

With only a few hours of daylight left since it was getting late, the blonde half-ghoul had decided to visit the park nearby the cafe that he had seen from his naver map. After thinking for a bit, Felix turned to the youngest in their group and asked, "Hey Jeongin, since you won't be joining the rest for obvious reasons, do you want to come with me? We could also stop by a diner on the way home so you can eat."

Jeongin paused momentarily and after a little consideration, he nodded his head, replying, "Ah, sure. Let me just go grab my phone."

~*~*~*~*~

The two young teens talked as they walked towards the park, both sides retelling how their day went and what they did throughout the day to one another. Felix enjoyed talking to the younger as he could relate to Jeongin better than the others with the teen being a normal teenager and he himself having been turned into a ghoul not too long ago.

Halfway to the park, Jeongin's phone suddenly rang, a notification popping out on the lock screen just a few seconds after. The younger took out his phone and immediately stopped in his tracks after he had read the message.

The older male, noticing the teen's abrupt pause, also stopped, asking, "Jeongin? What's wrong?"

Jeongin let out an apologetic smile as he replied, "Um.. I forgot but my friend just texted me that we have a school project due tomorrow and we haven't finished." He looked down to the ground guiltily as he apologised, "I'm really sorry but I have to go.."

Felix hummed and softly smiled, reassuring the younger as he ushered him to leave, "It's okay, I totally understand. You should hurry and head on over since it's getting dark."

Jeongin nodded, a smile on his face as he thanked Felix before he had quickly taken off, running back the way they had come - the opposite direction from the park they were originally headed to, leaving Felix to walk alone.

When Felix finally reached the park, he couldn't shake off the faint feeling of nostalgia as he walked through a rather familiar path. Paying close attention towards his surroundings, he had realized that he was in the very same park where he was kidnapped the day he had arrived in Korea.

Following along the path, he couldn't help but start to remember all the things he had been through like how lost he had felt in the dark, how he had cried on the cold bench, how he got kidnapped and experimented on, how he had met Chan and the others.

Silently musing, he wondered about what had happened to the backpack and suitcase he had with him that night. Had they been lost or stolen? Or were they perhaps still somewhere here?

Impulsively, he decided to search for his belongings just in the off chance that he could somehow find them and retrieve some of his more important possessions. Unfortunately, as expected, even after searching diligently, he couldn't find a single clue or sign pertaining to the whereabouts of his belongings.

Well, everything had happened approximately a month ago and he hadn't had much hope to begin with. Finally giving up on the endeavour, Felix sat down on a wooden bench situated near a small stone fish pond at the West side of the park. He took a deep breath and quickly got lost in his thoughts, enjoying the calm and serene atmosphere the park provided.

Soon, the sun started to set as the skies became darker with every minute that passed. Felix, noticing the time, was just about to stand up and leave for the cafe but froze when he felt a gaze land on his back from not too far away. He could feel the presence slowly approach, shivers racing through his spine, until the unknown figure sat down next to him.

He bristled, mind racing at a hundred miles per hour as a thousand questions popped up, most of them being something along the lines of 'Why would someone go to the park at this hour?' and 'Why did they choose to sit right beside a random stranger?'

Being the overthinker that he is, a concerning thought had suddenly come to the forefront of his mind, 'What if they found me? I really don't want to be part of an experiment anymore.'

Felix never told anyone this, but in the back of his head a thought had constantly been weighing him down, 'What happened to the people working for the scientist? Had they survived? Were they looking for him?' The more he thought about it, the more plausible his thought became in his eyes and he soon started to panic internally, trying to think of what he should do next.

"I wouldn't be able to fight either. I haven't eaten in so long." Felix nervously mumbled to himself.

Realising that he was too quick to jump to a conclusion, Felix tried to come back to his senses and convince himself that he was overreacting, that he shouldn't be scared and that it might just be a random stranger who had wanted some company. So, with all the bravery he could muster, he slowly turned his head to the side.

To Felix's surprise, the person was not at all like what he had expected. The person was a male who looked innately fierce but he seemed relaxed at the moment. He had a defined jawline with a sharp chin but his cheeks still looked plump and squishy, showing that the male was well fed. The male's hair was styled into a black undercut with his top hair messy and curled.

His eyes would have been pitch black if not for the light that reflected off of it and his right eyebrow was slit forming an X where there was no hair. The male was wearing a black bomber jacket over his dark grey hoodie, dark grey ripped jeans and what Felix assumed to be platform boots.

Looking at the younger man scanning his figure from the corner of his eyes, the black-haired male turned to face Felix, smiling as he greeted him, "Hello."


	22. I Like Your Bike!

Felix's heart started to beat wildly against his chest as he anxiously looked back and forth between the ground and the man next to him. After spending a few moments debating with himself, he finally willed himself to answer, albeit the confusion and worry still very much noticeable in his voice, "Hello?"

Hearing the blonde reply, the black haired male sitting next to him couldn't keep control of his lips as they twitched a couple of times before breaking out into a small smile. His hand moved from his lap to cover his mouth as he looked away, his foot fidgeting as it shook up and down.

Despite the male's efforts to hide his reaction, the teen could clearly tell that the male was feeling nervous and jittery which had made Felix more confused. The male was the one who had approached him first and yet was nervous to talk to him?

'How strange.'

Nonetheless, Felix sighed a breath of relief. While it was a shock to suddenly be confronted by someone like this, it still felt good to have someone come to him for a legitimate conversation. He didn't want to admit it but he had started to think that he would develop social anxiety if things continued on as they were.

Then again, if put in his position where nearly every other person he met would have had the intention to either kill or eat him, who wouldn't get social anxiety?

As Felix got lost in his thoughts, the young but older male next to him pulled himself together. The said male looked back at Felix, with a now straight face and extended his hand from his pocket, introducing himself as he did so, "I'm Changbin, nice to meet you."

Felix snapped out of his daze and looked at Changbin's outstretched hand. Subconsciously moving to put his hand in the male's, he couldn't help but to suddenly come to a stop just a few centimetres away from the hand, hesitating.

He was suddenly reminded of the last time someone had offered a handshake. It had been all the way back when he had gone to Jinyoung's mask shop with Jisung. While normally he would tend to forget such things, he couldn't really forget that he could have been eaten by the old lady if it weren't for Jisung.

Seeing the blonde's hand stop midway, Changbin let his hand fall as he frowned, silently contemplating as he repeated what he had done in his mind. 'Did I do something wrong?'

'I'm so stupid! I should've never listened to that stupid website.'

Changbin nervously started to play with his hands, not knowing what to do. He didn't want to add yet another person to his list of failed attempts to socialise but at the same time he didn't know what to do to get rid of the now awkward and stale atmosphere.

After a bit of inner conflict, he brought his fist up against his mouth and gave out a silent cough as he quietly urged the blonde, "So...?"

Finally being brought back from his walk through his memory lane, Felix turned to stare at the man next to him. Noticing the male freeze at the intense gaze and act like a deer in headlights, the blonde couldn't help but let out a small smile, 'Who am I kidding? He doesn't even look like he could hurt a fly.'

Felix heaved a deep breath and extended his hand, smiling and apologizing, "Sorry about that I suddenly got reminded of something."

Despite his thoughts and actions, his body remained a bit tense as he refused to lower his guard. If he had learnt anything from the time he first arrived in South Korea to now, it would be not to ever let his guard down.

Changbin suspiciously looked at his hand, and then his face as though seeking confirmation. After the blonde teen nodded and gestured towards his hand, the dark haired male eagerly clasped it with both his hands, vigorously shaking it up and down, smiling as he did so.

"It's nice to meet you too.. I'm Felix." He said, relieved that the male had still shown no signs of wanting to attack him.

"Ah, an English name. So you are not from around here." Changbin muttered under his breath, which was aimed more to himself than to Felix but the blonde couldn't really tell since the male had still kept eye contact.

The silence prevailed afterwards.

Changbin twisted and turned in his seat feeling uncomfortable before remembering about the website he had cursed not too long ago, 'I'll give this you one more chance. If I fuck up because of this, I'm so totally gonna leave a bad review.'

"So uh... You have a pretty smile." Changbin said, a somewhat wry smile appearing. He laughed sheepishly as his eyes looked side to side to make sure no one was around to witness his outbrimming personality of an awkward failure.

"Oh... thanks?" Felix said, utterly confused at why he was complimented on his smile while he didn't quite remember his smile being 'pretty'.

Silence again.

"I like your bike!" Changbin spouted out suddenly.

"My... bike?"

'Why isn't this working?!' Changbin whined in his mind, 'You know what? Fuck it.'

Changbin twisted his body toward Felix and took a deep breath, as he asked.

"So, what do you do for a living?"

With that the conversation finally took off and kept going despite the awkward beginning, both boys quickly warming up to one another. At some point, Felix had decided to put in a bit more trust in the male, and from then on they started talking as if they were really good friends.

Felix relished in the fact that he had actually managed to make a new 'friend' without the help of his thyung and he could finally feel that he was properly settling down here in Seoul. Finding the older male's company which was akin to a breath of fresh air for him, enjoyable; the younger threw all caution to the wind, staying out much longer than intended.

At the pace they went through various topics, it was no wonder that they soon ran out of things that they were willing to talk about and were just looking up at the night sky, staring at the stars in awe. Breaking the silent but comfortable air, Changbin had suddenly said something that Felix did not expect at all, "You know Felix, for a ghoul you smell weird. I've never encountered a scent like yours before."

Almost immediately, Felix had snapped his head towards the male, eyes blown wide open in shock as he started to panic, 'How did he know that I was a ghoul?'

Making a hasty decision the blonde scanned the paths around him, searching for a possible escape route. He didn't think about why Changbin had taken the time to sit down and talk to him if he had the intention to kill him. However, at the moment his instincts were telling him it was either fight or flight.

Just as he was about to take off into a sprint for the cafe, Changbin had grabbed onto his arm, wrapping his fist around the younger's wrist. He had noticed the younger's panicked state and wondered what he might have said to scare him that much and had held his arm in hopes to calm down the younger.

Not aware of the scare he had caused, he became increasingly confused and couldn't help but remain still, staring at the younger ghoul who had started to try to wrench his hand out of his hold.

Felix, of course, had taken this action in the wrong way, thinking that the male refused to let him go now that the dark-haired male's intentions had been revealed and shouted at him, "What are you doing?! Let go of me!"

Startled by the sudden exclamation, Changbin did as he was told and let go of the younger's arm. Without any hesitation Felix took off for the path in front of him, weaving through any obstacles in his way.

Changbin was frozen and stared at the younger's back as it grew smaller in the distance. He looked down at the hand he had used to hold Felix's and clenched it tightly. Looking back up at the younger's retreating figure he decided to give chase and bolted forward after the blonde teen.

Being much more agile than the younger ghoul the older was able to catch up to him without much difficulty. He blocked the blonde's path and grabbed onto his shoulder's forcing the younger to stay still. Felix hadn't taken this action lightly and started to violently struggle, trying to escape.

Unable to bear with it anymore Changbin shouted, "Stop! Why are you suddenly like this?!"

Felix continued to struggle, giving out angry grunts. It seemed as though the frustration had finally gotten to him however as he looked at the older dead in the eye, with a mocking expression as he exclaimed, "Do you honestly think I'm going to just let you kill me?!"

Changbin's eyes widened when he heard the younger's words and bewilderedly retorted, "Kill you?!"

"You.. do know I'm a ghoul too right? Why would I do that?" Changbin said, as he was confused why Felix was acting that way, he had never heard of a Ghoul killing another Ghoul that was literally trying to befriend the other.

"Yeah well that didn't stop anyone else from trying!" Felix said as his eyes widened when he realized he had said something that he initially didn't want to as he brought his palm to his hand and slapped it over his mouth, covering it in a shock as he let out a small hitch in his breath.

Changbin's confusion just kept growing until he was about to ask "But wh-"

"Just stop!" Felix interrupted, standing still, struggling to move as his past memories flashed in his mind.

Changbin noticed his struggling state and took advantage of the situation to shout "Felix!"

He moves forward towards him too fast to the point that Felix was helpless and couldn't have enough time to react as he cups Felix's face with his hands and to move Felix's turned away face to his own as he says calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The blonde was apprehensive at first but eventually after hearing what Changbin had said and seeing the sincerity in the older's eyes, Felix's muscles relaxed.

He looked away, feeling guilty, the older really hadn't done anything to warrant his actions. At the same time he felt that he wasn't exactly in the wrong either. He couldn't know for sure what the older had wanted and not wanting to risk his own life, he fled.

Now that the situation was revealed to be otherwise, he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it in the first place. If the older male had wanted to kill him he probably wouldn't have said anything that would've alerted him to begin with.

"I-I... I'm sorry!" Felix exclaimed, closing his eyes and clenching his fists.

"I'm really sorry for reacting that way." He started, "It's just tha-"

"It's fine, you don't have to explain yourself." Chanbin cut Felix off, rubbing his fingers back and forth on where it lay on the younger's cheeks, as he continued to reassure the teen, "This actually is my first time interacting with a stranger. So I'm not very good with all this talking and stuff. I should be the one who's sorry for not watching my words properly, not you."

Staring at each other in the eye, they soon broke out into small smiles as though coming to a silent understanding. Changbin then gestured to the path behind him, asking the younger what he wanted to do now, "Do you want to stay a bit longer? Or maybe I could take you home? You can go alone too, I don't mind."

Humming in agreement, Felix replied, "Take me home."

"Sure." Changbin said, his smile widening.

The two continued to talk more as they walked towards the cafe and eventually Chan, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin were brought up alongside how the oldest ghoul had been extremely adamant on not letting him go out and explore due to his lack of knowledge.

"Oh, I get you. My family's a bit strict on things like that too." Changbin said, sympathising.

The older ghoul's eyes lit up as he had suddenly thought of an idea and quickened his pace so that he could walk backwards and face Felix directly as he talked to the younger, "How about I give you a tour around South Korea? I know my way around most of the country."

Felix clapped his hands together in excitement, clearly agreeing to the idea but stopped and asked once more just to be sure, "Are you sure? Won't that trouble you?"

Changbin shook his head and smiled, "I wouldn't have offered if it did."

~*~*~*~*~

Over the next couple of weeks, Changbin and Felix had met up every day to roam the streets of Seoul as the older had offered they do on the day they met.

The day after their meeting was incredibly shocking to the younger ghoul. Since they were planning to travel by foot with it being more convenient and cost efficient, Changbin had asked the younger to bring his mask with him just in case anything happened.

Imagine Felix's surprise when the older man showed up at the park as they had formerly arranged with a familiar mask on his face. The blonde couldn't help but let his mouth fall wide open as he pointed at the older and exclaimed, "Oh my god! You were the one who saved me and Jisung from the investigator!"

Changbin was confused and tilted his head to the side, "Yeah, I am. I thought you knew?"

Felix stared at the older in exasperation, his expression clearly indicating that he was in disbelief, shouting, "How was I supposed to know?! Your face was completely hidden! You were wearing your mask!"

"Uh, my scent? It wasn't like I was trying to conceal it or anything." The older said as though what he had suggested was a natural thing anyone would do.

"What are you a dog?! Who recognises people from their scent?!" Felix yelled, flabbergasted.

Changbin looked at Felix with judgemental eyes and spoke to him as though he was mentally disabled, "I'm a ghoul. I thought we went through this already?"

Seeing the older's pitying expression, Felix couldn't help but feel his hand twitch as he fought the urge to just sock the older male in the face, sardonically retorting to the dark-haired male's words, "Yeah, right. Everyone just goes around saving people and remembering their scents."

It seemed the older ghoul didn't get the message however as he was visibly happy and nodding, glad that the younger had understood. Felix just stared, feeling tired already but decided to let it go, muttering under his breath, "You know what? I think I'm just going to leave this alone."

With that, the two of them had gone off on their very first 'date'.

~*~*~*~*~

In the middle of the night on the roof just across from the ever familiar cafe, stood a lone black figure looking back and forth as though looking out for something. After some time passed it finally looked as though the said figure was sure that no one was watching, jumping off of the roof and approaching the back door.

Reaching into his coat pocket, the figure took out a key and unlocked the door in front of him, entering the house. Under the house lights the figure was revealed to have a head of blonde hair - Felix. Wanting to avoid making too much noise, he turned around to face the door and carefully closed the door, locking it back up.

To his surprise, when he turned around to go to his room, the first thing he saw once he opened the door was Chan. The older ghoul's hands were crossed over his chest and his face showed a disappointed expression. Usually at this hour, Chan would've been sleeping - well, actually more like laying in bed - by now since the male had more work than ever before with the two other investigators who were now under his wing.

He had also noticed that the elder was wearing something similar from the night they had met although it was admittedly more fancier-looking than normal but brushed it off since he was preparing himself for the scolding he knew he was about to get. Felix looked down not wanting to look the older in the eye.

"Where have you been?! I know I told you to explore more and all that but seriously?! Jeongin's always with his friends, Seungmin's mostly busy with his job and Jisung goes to god knows where probably annoying Minho and delaying my shift more. Are you all leaving me behind?!" Chan whined, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

Felix panicked as soon as words left the white-haired ghoul's mouth, the mere insinuation of him abandoning them stabbing the younger's heart as he took it a little bit too seriously. Tearing up as well he moved towards Chan and hugged him as he replied in a worried tone, trying to reassure him, "Of course not!"

After sobbing in each other's arms for quite some time, Chan eventually pulled away from the blonde and ruffled his hair, managing to let out his query, "So, what places do you go to these days? You seem to go home later compared to when you first started."

"Ah! About that, I forgot to mention but I made a friend!" Felix said enthusiastically, excited to have finally given the opportunity to talk about Changbin and the little adventures they've been having to the white-haired ghoul.

He then started to explain in detail about the friend he had made that night and talked about the places they've been visiting for the past few days. As the conversation progressed, the half-ghoul finally realized the lost expression that had made its way onto the elder's pale face, the blonde's head tilting to the side in mild confusion.

When Felix briefly stopped talking to ask the male what was wrong, Chan placed both his hands on the younger's shoulders, harshly gripping them as he started to sob yet again, "So you're telling me this whole time, you've been going on basically 'dates' with this Changbin dude you barely know around Korea? Felix, how could you?! I want to go on a date too!"

Hearing what the elder had said, Felix sighed in relief, having originally thought that he had said something wrong in the middle of his rambling. Now, knowing that it was nothing of the sort, he knocked Chan's hands off of his shoulders. He then grabbed the white-haired male's hands with his, intertwining their fingers as he gave the male a bright smile, replying, "Well you could've just told me, silly. Let's go on a date!"

Chan, who was in tears, froze in his spot, shocked to have heard that from the younger. His pale face lit up a little both in anticipation and excitement, a light shade of pink dusting his cheeks, as he hesitantly asked, "Like n-now?"

"Why not? You seem like you're already dressed for the occasion." Felix answered, his smile as bright as ever.

Thrilled, the older smiled, happily exclaiming, "Alright, let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers i'm breaking the fourth wall here mwahaha!
> 
> If any of you are curious, the website we made Changbin reference actually exists!
> 
> Here's the link if you guys are bold enough!
> 
> https://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Conversation-with-a-Stranger


	23. He's...

It was a regular working day at the CCG for Chan as Minho tried to land a punch on the older male, which is - true to his status as a First Class - easily avoided. He then quickly squatted down, dodging Hyunjin's high side whip kick that had come from behind.

If any of the others from the cafe were watching, they would likely be clicking their tongue as to them it would seem as though Chan was blatantly showing the use of his ghoul senses which was, of course, unfair to the two younger investigators. The only reason the two weren't suspicious was probably because they passed it off as Chan having an exceedingly good battle sense.

The three investigators were currently training in one of CCG's large training rooms, panting as sweat dripped down their bodies to the floor below. Just as their many predecessors before them had.

Something that was to be noted though, was that unlike others, they were training in hand to hand combat or in other words, without the use of their quinques. Normally, this wasn't expected of investigators as they would have their quinques with them when they confront ghouls. However, Chan being their mentor refused to follow such a stupid assumption and trained them in both forms of combat.

He had taught them that unlike popular belief, they can't always rely on quinques. While it was true that a higher classed quinque could even double, if not triple- their overall combat prowess, if it started at zero then the end result would still be zero. This was something that the older firmly believed in.

Chan knew that he shouldn't be actively trying to better the combat prowess of the enemy team but after spending more time with the two, he had to admit that he had grown attached to them. Much too attached than what he was actually comfortable with considering the circumstances he was in.

Approximately two hours into the training, Hyunjin deliberately fell forward onto the ground, plopping his face on the cold wooden surface to try and cool his burning cheeks, whining out loud as he voiced out his exhaustion. Minho, on the other hand, stood next to the wall, leaning onto it for support, barely being able to prop himself up as he tried to catch his breath.

Throughout their entire sparring session, they had been trying to land at least a single blow on their mentor but it was with no success. There was no need to even mention getting in a direct blow, they barely even managed to graze the man.

Despite originally thinking that it was merely the male's battle sense that had been honed over countless battles against high ranked ghouls, the two still couldn't really wrap their heads around how their mentor had such fast unnatural reflexes. They could understand the effects of experience but over time, they noticed that the older had managed to dodge, even when placed in an extremely difficult situation, at times when they thought that even reflexes wouldn't be able to act fast enough.

Chan looked at the two exhausted males and sighed, his lips curving upwards as a small smile formed on his face.

"Alright you two, let's take a break for now. Be back here by half an hour and maybe we can actually start to see some improvement on this, ok?" Chan walked towards the door and waved before completely leaving the room.

As soon as their mentor was out of sight, Hyunjin twisted and turned his whole body, squirming as he positioned his body to face upwards towards the ceiling, finally revealing his sweat-drenched face as he lay flat on the wooden flooring, his arms spread wide, perpendicular to his body.

Minho spared a short glance at the younger male before looking away, lifting his shirt to wipe off the sweat around his mouth before continuing to fan himself for a few seconds and stretch his body to avoid getting sore or cramped muscles. Hyunjin upon noticing the other lifting his shirt, couldn't help but smirk as he whistled at the clear view he had on the older male's abdominal muscles.

Smiling at the older who had given him a sharp glare when he whistled, Hyunjin proceeded to ask, "So Minho, do you want to go grab lunch together? I know a barbeque place with the best quality pork belly in town."

"I'll even pay for the both of us?"

Minho silently started to pack his things and walked towards the door, clearly ignoring the younger's invitation. However, it seemed as though the younger was somewhat stubborn as he proceeded to ask, "So is that a yes?"

The older man stopped in his tracks with one hand holding the door handle, turning to look at Hyunjin. Seeing the younger's wiggling eyebrows, he glowered and slammed the door open as he coldly replied, "No."

"Now if you'll _so kindly_ excuse me." Minho curtly continued, walking out and slamming the door shut once more behind him, not batting a single eyelash throughout the sequence.

Hyunjin turned his head from the door to face the ceiling, still lying on the floor as he continued to sweat excessively, silently uttering to himself, "Rude."

'It's probably because we've failed to hit Chan hyung again.' He thought to himself, knowing that Minho was frustrated at their powerlessness. Sighing, he encouraged himself, saying that he'll just have to work hard and do better next time but still, he showed no signs of getting up from the floor.

'It's a pretty short break. I wonder if I can get lunch in time...' He thought, staring into nothing as time slowly passed.

Finally deciding to get up and walk to the cafeteria, inwardly musing to himself, 'Well, at least it's definitely a break that we earned.'

As he made his way to the locker room. After taking a quick shower, he changed into a white cotton dress shirt, black slim fit slacks and a long white overcoat - his usual attire. Not wanting to waste the time - _nor effort_ , he left his hair wet and merely swept it backwards away from his face, water drops falling onto the ground from the tips of his hair.

Before leaving the room, he checked to see if he had forgotten something important. He smacked his forehead as he walked over to take his briefcase all the while scolding himself for forgetting.

Sure, he wasn't going out but it wouldn't be funny if he asked to be commissioned a new quinque because it had been lost or even worse, stolen.

He made his way towards the cafeteria as Minho hadn't wanted to go which had completely eradicated the only reason to go in the first place. Loosely holding on to the handle of his briefcase, he swung it around in boredom as he walked down the hallway.

Glancing out the floor to ceiling window, he saw his not-so newly-assigned mentor, Chan, walking out of the CCG building as the older man carried a paper bag in his arms.

Intrigued, he continued to watch his mentor for a while and after a few moments of internally debating with himself, he decided to leave the building and follow behind his mentor in secret.

'It isn't considered stalking until you get caught doing it.'

Weeks have passed since Hyunjin joined the same team as the two older investigators and although he thinks that his mentor is a nice and friendly person. Well, at least, once you get to know him, he couldn't help but feel uneasy and suspicious.

'Is he actually a ghoul?'

Unlike most people who easily dropped the idea after the trial, Hyunjin couldn't seem to do the same even after seeing Chan pass through the RC scan gate multiple times. It wasn't as though there was any evidence or solid reason as to why he felt this way, he just had this gut feeling that something was off.

Since the trial, the very same 'anonymous' author had sought out the publishing house of the original article and had published a follow up article. There, they made it clear that the original article hadn't been made to instigate such an event and included various arguments and points explaining how Chan was fully innocent.

The author themselves had stated that the article had only been a product of their mindless fantasies, thoughts, and the like; and so, the proof was all there, and yet for some unknown reason his gut wouldn't settle and he still wasn't convinced.

It was unlike Hyunjin to meddle with someone's personal affairs since he himself held anyone who did it to him in near utmost contempt. However, this time, he couldn't help it; he was much too curious, too intrigued, too invested in the search for his own conclusion.

He followed his mentor as they weaved through the cramped, fully packed streets, and the ever busy crowd. They took many turns, passed by multiple buildings but not once was there a fault in his mentor's step until the older man had arrived at an alleyway.

The alley itself was dark despite the still early time of the day due to the shadows casted over it which had clearly been a result of its location; that being situated right in between two rather tall buildings.

Hyunjin was surprised at the older male's choice of location, suspicions growing. He pondered over whether or not he should take the opportunity to confront his mentor, hesitant to go any further. After a moment's deliberation, he decided that it would be best if he were to keep to himself.

However, that didn't mean that he was going to leave, as he had long since bartered with himself to allow for his taking a quick peek into the alley; the curiosity about what the older investigator was up to, gnawing at the back of his mind.

Hyunjin stood by the corner of the building, leaning against the wall with his hands in his coat pocket as he silently waited for the footsteps to stop. No longer hearing the sound of shoes against the hard gravel, he slowly creeped into the entrance, peeking his hand round the corner.

To his confusion, there wasn't a single person in sight.

'Huh? Where did he go?'

He hesitantly took a few steps forward as he moved deeper into the alleyway, all the way to the end. Still, no sign of his mentor. The alley was devoid of anything except a few old, empty, torn-up cardboard boxes and; stinky, mold-filled garbage bins which were surrounded by a couple of fully-filled bin bags.

There was no way Chan could've gone anywhere without his knowledge as the alleyway only had a single opening - the one he came from. None of the metal shutters along the path had seemed to be unlocked recently either, if the rusty padlocks were of any indication. Even if there was some kind of hidden door underneath or behind the boxes and garbage bins, it was near impossible for Chan to be able to move everything in such a short period of time.

Furthermore, even after jesting at the thought of him being able to remove everything, it still wouldn't explain how he had the time to cover it up afterwards. Of course, Hyunjin being the person he is, kicked the things away from its original place anyway.

Just as expected, there was nothing but pure, hard gravel.

He sighed, ruffling the back of his head. Upon making his leave, having given up and decided to call it a day, he looked back at the alley one more time in wonder.

'How did he disappear? Closed shutters, cardboard boxes, trash and three wal-' At this moment, he realized something, immediately feeling like hitting himself in the head for his stupidity.

The wall of the building at the end of the alleyway was shorter than the other two. Short enough for someone of Chan's, or even his, capabilities to scale. As soon as he thought of the possibility, he couldn't help but enter yet another battle with himself.

'No, I shouldn't...'

'But, it couldn't hurt to try... right?'

Looking down to his hand, he pressed on the hidden button on the handle of his silver briefcase, his halberd quickly forming in his hand. Hyunjin pushed himself off of the ground onto the roof of the smaller building, kneeling slightly as he landed in order to keep his balance.

He had landed right behind what seemed to be a series of external air vents, blocking his vision. He tightened his grip on his quinque as he quietly moved away from the vents, and approached the open area near to the small building like protrusion on the rooftop which likely held the staircase leading to the shop beneath.

Hyunjin had finally found his mentor; however, not in a way he would have ever expected for him to find the older male. The higher-ranked investigator was sitting on the rooftop, sitting cross-legged while he leaned against the walls that surrounded the staircase; his coat placed on the floor right beside him, a small brown paper bag resting on it.

It wasn't that the older one was eating his lunch on a rooftop alone but rather, what had actually surprised Hyunjin the most, was what Chan was having; and how he was eating his meal. The way he was eating his lunch made it look as though he was eating a hamburger but it was clear to anyone who saw that it was far from your average-everyday burger that was available in fast food restaurants.

Instead of the normal two sesame buns with a thoroughly-cooked, brown slab of beef or the crispy golden deep-fried cut of chicken and the contrasting green of the one or two lettuce leaves; the melted, stringy yellow squares of cheese; it looked more like an uneven, poorly-cut chunk of _red, raw, bloody_ meat. His hands and mouth were smothered in dark red stains.

'He's a ghoul!'

Meanwhile Chan, who was calmly enjoying his meal, had suddenly felt a presence nearby, his hair standing up as his senses blared. He turned his head to face the presence and was shocked to see Hyunjin there, holding his quinque in his hand. Without thinking much, he jumped up from his sitting position and fell into a fighting stance.

"What.. are you doing here?"

~*~*~*~*~

The day ended as usual with Young Wings closing at its scheduled timing. San and the other staff members had made sure to tidy up the place by cleaning up the front of the house, storing things in the storage room, cleaning the dishes, and so on with the help of Felix and Jisung. By the time the last worker had left the cafe, Seungmin and Jeongin had arrived home; the former from work and the latter from school.

Despite everyone being equally exhausted and wanting nothing more but to rest, Jisung had somehow managed to convince the others to accompany him on his trip to the nearby shopping district. After a quick change, the four males made their way to their destination. They spent the rest of their evening roaming around, buying new clothes - mainly Felix who was the only one who doesn't exactly have much to wear - and various types of food for the only human in their group.

When they realized that it was getting late and that their hyung would likely come back from work at any minute, the group of four decided to go home. On their way back, Jisung suddenly made it clear that he wanted to open the door later, saying that he wanted to see how it worked as he never really used one while he was still living under the bridge. Not finding any fault in his request, Felix took the key out of his pocket and gave it to Jisung.

Arriving at the cafe, they decided to unlock the front door of the cafe and enter from there. As Jisung held the door open to let the others in, Jeongin had mentioned something that had happened during school hours, "So when I was searching for articles for my classwork on the school computer, I found this random study about crows and it was surprisingly very interesting and informative."

"Oh, I remember learning about crows and other birds when I was still in school." Felix said, suddenly reminiscing his earlier days and the times back when he still lived in Australia.

"Well, I can't relate. I've never even enrolled in a school." Seungmin added.

"Oh! Oh! Aren't crows those stupidly loud and annoying black birds you see every now and then?" Jisung began before rambling on as he joined the other three in the conversation, "I remember when me and Minho hyung were playing in his backyard as kids, he threw a rock to the sky to show off and it accidentally hit a crow and killed it; which is officially his first ever kill. You should've seen him bawling his eyes out while covered in snot and-"

As they were about to sit down in the living room and wait for Chan there, the familiar chime that came with the cafe door opening had suddenly resonated through the air, "Huh? Who opened the door?"

"Maybe it's Channie hyung?" Felix suggested.

He immediately shook his head, debunking his initial thought, responding to himself which still could be heard by the others, "No, there's no way hyung would've used the front door, especially at this hour. I remember him saying that someone thought he was trying to break in and trash the place the last time he did that."

"A customer?" Jeongin supplied.

Seungmin denied this possibility, "They would have to break the door to get in."

"Maybe it's unlocked?"

Silence.

"That's impossible, we literally just came in from that door." Felix replied after thinking for a moment. He then proceeded to voice his thoughts, "Didn't I give the key to-"

The younger ghouls instantly directed their attention towards a single figure.

"Sungie!" Felix said in a tired, unsurprised tone.

Jisung flinched, his mind racing as he tried to come up with a believable response. Of course, he knew that he had actually forgotten about the door but that didn't mean they did. Thinking that, he turned his head towards his hyung as he yelled back, "What?! I swore I locked the door! The door must be broken!"

Felix did not look amused.

Honestly, it was foolish for the blonde to even start to think he could trick the younger ghoul. Not to mention, after so clearly flinching when accused. If he hadn't done anything wrong there wouldn't have been a need to do so.

Shaking his head in disappointment as he turned towards the door, making sure to keep a mental note in his mind to scold the elder about this later. He rushed to the front and was about to greet the stranger but stopped in his tracks when he realized that the person who had entered was wearing a long white coat and carrying a silver briefcase.

_An investigator._

He knew it wasn't Chan though. If the difference in clothing wasn't enough, the fact that the figure was nothing like the white-haired ghoul they lived with would definitely be. The said investigator was rather slim with sharper facial features, a beauty mark just under his left eye.

Everyone in the room tensed up, becoming cautious as they mentally prepared themselves in case they needed to either attack, run, and if needed, both.

Felix stared at the investigator, his body visibly shaking, eyes dilating slightly. _He knew this man._ It was the very same investigator Changbin had saved him from. The investigator he and Jisung had encountered on their way home all those nights ago.

"Hello." The investigator greeted with a smile looking around the cafe a bit before continuing to ask, "Is this where First Class Investigator Bang Chan lives?"

Seungmin, upon realizing Felix's panicked state, stood in front of him and felt his instincts blare at the investigator, "Depends."

"Who's asking?" he asked, intimidation explicitly heard in his voice as he stared at Hyunjin.

"Ah! Right! Where are my manners? I'm Hwang Hyunjin, Chan's mentee, student, disciple, apprentice, partner or whatever it is you want to call it."

Everyone lowered their guard after hearing that the investigator was an acquaintance of Chan, although they couldn't help but wonder why the ghoul wasn't there to accompany him.

"This place is truly amazing. It's so immaculate and welcoming. It's such a large building as well!" Hyunjin complimented before looking at the group of four, lowering his gaze to look straight into Seungmin's eyes as he let out a smirk, "Really makes me wonder where you store all of that human meat of yours."


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!!!
> 
> We have officially FINISHED removing W**J** from the story!
> 
> Please look forward to going back to our normal publishing schedule, which is every Monday and Friday!
> 
> It took 2 months, but it's finally done and it was definitely worth it since we were able to introduce new characters, improve the overall plot and go back and fix linguistic intonation and so on + so forth that would not have been possible without W**J**'s removal.
> 
> We hope you continue to support GHOUL IN SEOUL (Or GIS for short) as we continue working on and publishing the upcoming chapters.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> GIS Team

Each and everyone of the people present at the scene froze, surprised at what the investigator had just said; although some were, for obvious reasons, more afraid than the others. The more common question that was running through their minds was how the investigator had known that they were ghouls.

Did one of the customers find out and report it? Did Seungmin or Jisung get tailed back to the cafe when they went out wearing their masks? Does any of it have to with Chan being late? Will any of them have to go on trial like Chan had?

Before any one of them could act on their thoughts, however, the cafe door was slammed open once again. This time revealing a figure that they knew all too well, causing them to let out a few sighs of relief. In any case, the situation wasn't nearly as bad as they had thought. If the Chan was fine then, they'll easily be able to work something out.

"Hyunjin! I know you're excited and all but couldn't you have gone a bit slower?!" said the white-haired investigator from where he stood by the entrance. One of his hands was holding the door open while the other, which was carrying his silver briefcase, rested on his knee as he panted heavily, struggling to catch his breath.

Looking up upon his breathing returning back to normal, he immediately took notice of the tense atmosphere that filtered through the room along with the eyes of almost everyone in the room that were focused on him, showing him a confused yet relieved expression.

Suddenly getting shy from all the attention, Chan's ears slowly became flushed, turning red as he placed his briefcase down and rubbed the nape of his neck. Equally as confused as his younger co-residents, he asked, "Uh.. What's with all the stares? Did I miss anything important?"

The room went dead silent for a while, leaving Chan to play with his finger's as he patiently waited for someone to say something. Finally, Felix made the first move, appearing from where he was originally hiding behind Seungmin's back and started to whine from the distance, **_"Hyung, you scared the living shit out of all of us! This isn't funny!"_**

Chan looked at Felix as though wrongly accused and scratched the back of his head, trying to think of what he had done wrong. Seeing the anxious look that the younger had, the white -although currently black- haired male, who was still very much confused with the situation, couldn't help but whine back, "What did I do?!"

Seungmin, who still stood in front of Felix to protect him, was furious that the older male was too dense to read the room, causing him to cross his arms over his chest as he pointed at Hyunjin who had, by then, already showcased an awkward smile. The younger investigator gave Chan a small wave for a bit as he tried to explain what had happened, "Ehm.. I may or may not have given them the fright of their lives as a first impression by letting them know I know they're ghouls."

"Don't forget the lack of explanation." Jeongin added.

"Right, that too." Hyunjin said smiling. Chan stared at his 'student' with his eyes opened wide in disbelief. The younger investigator suddenly felt bad for having caused the conflict between the two males and apologized, "Sorry?"

"It's fine. Whatever you did, I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Chan reassured as he turned to look at the others pleadingly with teary eyes, pouting at the older as though trying to state his case.

"Right, guys?" Chan said as he went towards the younger investigator in case anyone would harm him for whatever he had done. Staring apathetically at the two apologetic males for a while with his left eyebrow raised, Seungmin eventually gave in, sighing and nodding in consent.

"I guess. So, is there any explanation as to why he is here?" He said, slowly but not completely lowering his guard. Chan turned his head towards the journalist and briefly answered, "Ah. You see, he found out that I was a ghoul."

"What?!" Felix exclaimed, surprised. The white-haired male soon came to regret having not said more as Seungmin, who was originally starting to settle down, suddenly tensed up again. This time the younger didn't allow Chan to say anything before he began firing a series of questions that the older wasn't sure he had the answer to.

"Then why did you bring him here? How many near death experiences do you want? Was me trying to kill you not enough?" Seungmin asked and while he wasn't even close to shouting, his death glare was more than enough to convey his feelings on the matter. The journalist was starting to think that maybe the peaceful first few weeks were too good to be true. Nonetheless, knowing fairly well that showing hostile movements was not going to help, he tried his best not to let his eyes turn red due to his enragement.

Seeing how tense the younger ghoul had become, Chan spread his hands arms open. Effectively blocking his mentee from attacking them, while still allowing him to protect Hyunjin from the other ghouls should the situation deem it necessary. Immediately, he tried to placate his younger co-residents, "Wait, wait! He's not going to kill anyone! Turns out, my buddy, Hyunjin, here doesn't exactly like killing ghouls."

The four other resident's of the cafe looked each other in the eye, their minds filled with uncertainty. Although all of them had trust in Chan - some more than the other - they were all having difficulty in believing the words that came out of his mouth. Seungmin, being the most cautious, was skeptical, "A CCG investigator yet he doesn't like to kill ghouls? Are you sure you didn't accidentally hit your head against a wall and kill all your brain cells?"

Scanning his surroundings and the increasingly tense atmosphere, Felix knew that he had to do something. He placed his hand on Seungmin's shoulder and slightly shook it, trying his best to convince him, "Hyung's right! Me and Sungie met him before. He wanted to let us go even though we were clearly wearing our masks. No other investigator would do that, right?"

Seungmin turned back and looked into Felix's eyes. After realizing just how serious the blonde was with his words, the young journalist turned back to look at the two older males in front of him. Although hesitant, he finally let it go, saying, "If Felix says he's innocent, then he really is innocent. But if something goes wr-"

"It won't!" The younger investigator exclaimed, eyes basically pleading.

"Then, we shouldn't have a problem." Seungmin replied, although inwardly disgusted at the older's act. He didn't completely trust the male either, still very much suspicious as he continued silently looking at the male.

With that, everyone in the room started to relax as the atmosphere lifted a bit. The young ones let their muscles release the built up tension and let their guard down. Both Seungmin and Chan had reassured them after all. Well, with the exception of a certain orange-haired ghoul anyway.

"Oi! I remember you! You're that tall ass tree who tried to kill me and Lix that one time! How dare you just walk in here like nothing happened?!" Jisung exclaimed and tried to approach the other. Felix quickly ran up to his older twin, trying to hold him back as he began to reason with the male.

Hyunjin, who was blatantly called out by the orangette, looked at the writhing ghoul in confusion, tilting his head while doing so. Slightly offended, he let out a small, "Excuse me?"

After recollecting his memories, the tall investigator finally realized who exactly it was that he was talking to, "Oh! Chronosaurus, is that you? I swear your voice was deeper the last time we met. Well, at least your miserably lacking height seemed to remain the same." The investigator smirked as he glared at the shorter ghoul.

Almost immediately afterwards, all of Felix's efforts to try to get the agitated orange-haired male to settle down, was practically disintegrated to dust as Jisung started to indignantly shout and thrash around.

On the other hand, not really knowing what it was that the two ghouls and Hyunjin were talking about, Chan, who had been listening silently the entire time, took a direct hit to the heart, the arrow lodged deeply inside it. He wasn't exactly that much taller than Jisung and the topic had been a rather sore spot. Inwardly crying tears the currently black-haired male thought, 'I know he didn't mean me but I can't help but get affected. Damn my stupid genes!'

The angered Jisung as he broke free from Felix's grip and screamed out, "Bold words from a shitty streetlight like you! Tell me, can you see Uranus from up there? Because I can, and I'm about to shove your quinque so far up your ass that it basically tears up all of your guts and you won't realize it until I'm done because of the clouds and smoke blocking your view!"

The two then started to bicker with Felix basically in between them, trying to stop them from killing each other. Seungmin, who had calmed down due to the fact that the issue wasn't as complicated as he thought and whose emotions were replaced by confusion, walked back after the argument started to heat up and now stood beside an equally confused Jeongin who had been staying silent, watching everything progress.

"That night?" Jeongin questioned.

"Chronosaurus?" Seungmin added, wondering what type of name was that.

"Is there something they've been hiding from us?" Jeongin looked at his hyung.

"Man they're more fucked up than we thought they were." Seungmin said, shaking his head. The young journalist's colourful words sent the entire group, minus Chan, into yet another heated discussion led by the easily-angered-orangette. The white-haired male worried and exasperated but as he was currently unable to do anything to change the situation they found themselves in he merely sighed at the sight of his chaotic household.

'Well, I should've seen this coming. I don't think I'll be eating any time soon if this keeps going on.' With the thought of food in mind, Chan tried to settle things down. However as previously mentioned there wasn't much he could do to stop what was going on.

"Guys...."

"Guys..."

"Guys! **_Oh my god! Can you just shut the fuck up!_** I had a very long day in CCG today, not to mention Minho was being more of a pain in my ass today. I want nothing more but a good meal to end the day. **_But nooo, you two decide to bicker and probably will destroy my fucking cafe in the process._** That's not going to look good both for my wallet and your futures."

Everyone was shocked from the sudden outburst, taking a few steps back away from the ghoul. The two males who were about to actually fight each other stopped, somehow collectively agreeing that this was something not worth arguing for. They can settle this another day - not now.

Seeing how the room was now silent, Chan sighed, feeling a bit guilty for scaring some of them, "Hyunjin, maybe we should go over this tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay. It's probably for the best." Hyunjin said, jumping at the chance to leave and without any hesitation, the tall investigator quickly excused himself. Bidding Chan farewell at the door, the tall male closed the door behind him. Felix - having taken the key back from Jisung - locking the door after him.

With one roller coaster of an event now over, the others also excused themselves, leaving for their rooms. Felix and Chan were left in the front cafe room alone and the ghoul investigator sighed, staring at the floor in exasperation. The blonde looked at his hyung for a while before fetching the silver briefcase from where he stood by the entrance and ushered the male inside their home.

As they walked through the door, the younger offered, "You said you were hungry, right? Let's go to the kitchen and I'll prepare something."

"Mhm."

~*~*~*~*~

Two days later, Chan and Hyunjin were walking out of the CCG building, animatedly talking to each other while Minho, who was not at all paying attention to what they were conversing about, walked beside them. The three of them were just about to head out for an unscheduled patrol since they had no official missions nor a need for additional training. Furthermore, Chan told them that it would be nice to get fresh air for once and the weather was great for the occasion.

Cloudy but not gloomy, bright but not hot, breezy but not cold. The white-haired male, in actuality, had no intention of going on a patrol - he had just wanted a good excuse to leave for an early lunch- but considering the fact that they had Minho - who was a stickler for rules and the like - in their team, he gave way a little and decided to go out on a patrol instead. Better go out and search for ghouls, than stay indoors and do work.

Just as they were about to start their patrol, Chan noticed a rather short - compared to the people in their group anyway - figure that was quickly approaching them from the opposite direction. "Hey, isn't that Jisung?" he pointed out the figure, which made Minho, who was in his own thoughts, look up and see for himself. The person got closer and he was in fact Jisung.

"Sungie! I told you not to visit me during working hours! You know how busy I can get." Minho scolded him, breaking out from his usual formal attitude at the sight of the younger. Chan looked at his mentee and reassured him, "Minho, it's fine if you want to go hang out with him. We're actually not busy at all, remember? Not everything has to be strict to your job." he said as Hyunjin nodded from the side.

Crossing his arms, Jisung said, "Who says I'm here for you?! I came here to see Channie hyung."

"What do you mean 'Channie hyung'? Why do you call him as if you know him well?" Minho questioned the orangette, not really knowing what the younger has been doing the last few weeks. Being an investigator was taking up a lot of his time and currently, to him, eradicating ghouls was a top priority so he hasn't really spent much time with the younger lately, leaving him out of the loop.

Jisung harrumphed, his chest puffing up as he replied, "We live under the same roof of course we know each other well!"

"Since when?! Why have you never told me?" The investigator exclaimed, incredibly shocked. It was understandable, it wasn't everyday that he would suddenly find out that his friend for many years was suddenly living with the very same mentor that was coaching him, the one he avoided like a plague outside work, the one he himself as the older's mentee barely knew.

"Uh.. a month or two, I guess? I don't know. We barely talk to each other nowadays since you're always so invested in your job so I thought you wouldn't be interested in me talking about myself." Jisung carelessly replied, not really minding much; the orangette had new friends now and if Minho couldn't spare time for him, he didn't have to pester the older anymore.

"A-ah.." The older male responded, unable to give an actual reply in return.

"Anyways, hyung? You say you're not busy right? Why don't you come back and hang out with us? San hyung and Felix didn't seem busy when I left and Innie doesn't have school today so he's there too. Seungmin also said he's on his way back since he doesn't have much to do." Jisung said, slowly getting excited.

"What about me? Don't tell me you've forgotten about me already." Hyunjin said, his hand placed on top of his heart as he feigned being hurt by the male's blatant exclusion.

"Whatever. I guess Mr. Llama here can come too." Jisung retorted, clicking his tongue in displeasure as he grudgingly acknowledged the tall investigator's words. Giving the orangette one of his dimpled smiles, Chan responded positively to the younger, "Sure! I don't see why not."

"Hey Minho, do you want to come with us?" The white-haired male asked as he turned to look at the formerly forgotten presence of his mentee, Minho. Jisung, who had heard this, immediately snorted and responded to Chan's question in his favourite hyung's stead, "Nah, don't bother. He wouldn't want to go, right hyung?"

"Yeah... Of course, I have more important things to do." Minho said, his voice wavering slightly as he tried hard to keep up his usual indifferent facade; he was failing, however, as the corners of his lips twitched in irritation and the hand he had moved into his coat pocket, clenched tightly.

"See? Now let's go! "Jisung gloated, preening at having been proven right. The orangette proceeded to grab onto Chan and Hyunjin's wrists, dragging them away. It was clear to anyone who could see that Minho was unable to hide his bothered mind, none of the other three noticed, too busy going through the details of what they were going to do when they arrived at their predetermined destination.

With that, the three males exited the scene, leaving Minho to stand in the middle of the street alone. At this moment, the investigator seemed to come to a realization, becoming downtrodden. Minho extended his hand towards the younger's receding back, trying to reach out to him as though he had something he wanted to say.

In the end, it seemed that the investigator had decided otherwise as he silently walked back inside CCG headquarters with what looked like a dark, stormy cloud hovering over his head.


	25. H-hyung...

**Multiple trigger warnings for this chapter including:**

**tw//blood,**

**tw//murder**

**tw//graphic (sort of)**

**tw//gore**

**Disclaimer: This fanfic is set in the Tokyo Ghoul world (However, in a different country and no connection to the original story franchise whatsoever, but still surrounds the whole concept of humans being below ghouls in the food chain.) and that leaves the implication that some** **_events_ ** **are inevitably going to happen.**

**This warning was primarily placed for those that don't follow or watch the Tokyo Ghoul series and have come to this AU solely for Stray Kids.**

**Read at your own risk and please proceed with caution.**

**That aside, enjoy the really, really really long chapter! (it's almost 10k words holy shit)**

**\-----**

Hyunjin slammed his bedroom's door shut as he made his way to the main dining room, fixing his hair to look more presentable. He was making his way towards the dining room where his parents were waiting for him.

He still lived with his parents and despite rarely being there, especially since he kept on hanging with everyone at the cafe for the past week or so. Even so, his parents had basically demanded him to join them for dinner that evening.

When he finally reached the end of the hallway, two servants who stood at opposite sides of the white double doors immediately bowed down before him and opened the doors for him. He was immediately greeted by the other servants who were busy setting up the table for the family.

As he sat down, he greeted his parents, in which his father had looked at him and nodded, while his mother was too busy talking to someone over the phone to realize that her son had arrived and said anything.

After the last servant had left the room, everyone started to eat in silence. The father made an effort to start a conversation with Hyunjin, asking about his day or how his duties as an investigator have been.

With Hyunjin replying in long sentences to please his father, although clearly uncomfortable, the conversation progressed until the mother was fed up and coughed, signaling her husband to get straight to the point.

The father looked back at his son, shifting his expression into a worried one, and began talking, "Son, we've called you here to warn you regarding an ongoing threat..."

~*~*~*~*~

Pulling the freezer door open, Chan checked to see if there was any flesh left inside the refrigerator, which was - to his disappointment - completely barren. He then proceeded to check the two other fridges they had, only to find a leg and a few vital organs such as the liver and the heart inside their smallest one. And if he had to judge based on the smell, it wasn't in the best state.

He took what little food they had left and brought it over to the kitchen counter where Seungmin was. The journalist, who had been tasked to watch and wait for the water boil, was using his spare time to help the white-haired ghoul set up the table, preparing the cups, plates, and other utensils.

Walking towards a cabinet near to their oven, Chan looked through it but was only able to find a single, small, and crumpled piece of paper. Taking it out and reading the name written on it, the white-haired male furrowed his brows as he unintentionally muttered his thoughts out loud, "I barely have anyone to kill this time. The only names I have was from a while back from the day of the interview and it's only one name. What to do.."

Hearing what the older male had said and noticing the somewhat concerned look on his face, Seungmin proceeded to accompany the male to think for a while before he remembered something. The journalist finished his task, gently yet hurriedly placing the plates on the dining table before rushing out of the room, seemingly in search of something.

He returned not too long after, holding the ever-so-familiar notepad that he usually used for his job, "I don't know if this helps or not but in the publishing department, there's always a lot of gossiping in the building. So after I found out how you pick your targets a few days back, I started writing down names and in case you wanted it - the reasons why I think it would be fine to kill them."

Seungmin tore off a few pages from his notepad, handing it to Chan. After skimming through the written names for a while, Chan nodded and smiled at the younger. "This is perfect, thank you so much. For now, let's finish preparing dinner and join the others, shall we?"

~*~*~*~*~

Sitting together in the dining room, everyone was enjoying their meal. Usually, at this hour, Felix would have already met up with Changbin and the two would be roaming around the streets of Seoul, making their way to wherever it was they had decided to go. This time, however, the blonde half-ghoul could be seen sitting at the dining table with the rest of their so-called 'gang', eating what seemed to be a detached human leg.

Ever since Felix had first started living at the cafe, everyone - especially Chan - had constantly shown their concerns regarding his less than healthy eating habits; if you could even call it that since in actuality the blonde male hadn't even eaten a single bite, hasn't had a proper meal, ever since he arrived in Seoul.

Despite his reluctance to consume anything, soon enough, the half-ghoul couldn't help but agree with the others that it was about time for him to eat; he had felt his stamina depleting slowly, bit by bit as his body grew weaker and weaker. At that point, not even the cups of "diabetic" coffee seemed to have been able to supply enough energy to sustain his body.

~~~

Around a week ago, while Felix and Jisung were helping Chan prepare dinner for that night, the younger twin started complaining to his day-older twin about how he had been feeling lethargic and downright exhausted after doing anything; no matter how easy and small the task was. The orangette who was dividing the flesh equally on their plates, heard this and suddenly slammed his fist on the counter.

"Well, it's your fault so don't complain! Who told you not to eat anything?!" Jisung replied, angrily huffing.

"Well, it's not _my_ fault that flesh looks disgusting! I'd give it a 0/10 for presentation. Gordon Ramsay would be flaming if he knew I even deemed it worthy of a score. It probably tastes horrible too!" Felix, who felt offended, argued back.

"Who the hell is Gordon Ramsay?!" The orangette exclaimed, going off on a rant as what seemed to be hot fumes escaped from the top of his head, "And how would _you_ know how it tastes if you've never eaten it?! You know what-"

Jisung proceeded to grab a handful of flesh from the plate nearest to him. Felix paled, and started to scream at the older, asking him to stop. Unfortunately or fortunately, the blonde's pleas fell on deaf ears as the orangette, in one precisely calculated and sharp move, shoved the flesh that was in his hands inside of Felix's mouth.

The younger was momentarily frozen in shock before gagging, repulsed at the thought of him eating human flesh. He quickly spitted out the flesh and was just about to scold the older male when he stopped in his tracks; the strong yet delicate and sweet taste of blood wafted through his mouth.

The blood left a really sweet tingle in his mouth, it had a texture akin to syrup. The flavor also _weirdly_ reminded him of the sugar cubes he usually took as a substitute for flesh. Out of curiosity, the blonde male picked up a cube of flesh from the cutting board, examining it with a conflicted gaze before steeling himself as he placed it inside his mouth.

Slowly chewing the cube, Felix was rather shocked as the juicy cut released a sudden burst of flavor. If he were asked to think of a sentence to describe its flavor, he would say it was reminiscent of the warm home-cooked meals his mother used to make for him back in Australia; well, at least, before he had expressed his less than agreeable views.

As the half-ghoul was starting to enjoy his first meal - although it was more of a snack - in so long, he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Felix teared up as he was reminded yet again that what he was eating was in fact human flesh. Although he clearly knew that he was no longer one of them, no longer the same species, it still felt morally wrong.

The blonde _hated, despised, absconded_ himself for liking it in the first place.

"Sung, could you give me and Lix a moment?" asked Chan, who had been silently watching everything transpire from afar. The orangette was about to refute but after seeing the pleading look on the older's face, Jisung grudgingly nodded and left.

After the ghoul left the room, the older male turned to look at Felix. His heart pounded painfully against his chest when he saw the blonde ghoul's distraught expression, the white-haired investigator approached the two and placed his hand on Felix's shoulder, "Lix?"

Felix doesn't answer, seemingly feeling rather out of it. Chan sighed at this, running his fingers through his fluffy white curls and as he softly muttered to himself - since the younger ghoul wasn't exactly listening,"I didn't plan on talking about who and how I hunt to anyone but this has gone on for too long."

Chan cupped the blonde's face in his hands, making him look at him. Felix, who had been broken out of his daze, sent the older a teary, questioning gaze - asking him what he wanted. The white-haired male let go of his hold and sighed once more as he tried to reason with the younger, "Look, you don't have to feel bad for eating. You need it to survive, to live. It's not your fault that you became this way, you never wanted this to happen."

"But they're people, hyung. I used to be one of them." Felix responded, the tears that had built up escaping from the corners of his eyes. With a shaky voice he continued to try and explain what he felt, to explain what was bothering him, "I don't really know how to put it. It just feels... wrong. It doesn't feel right."

"I could've easily been one of them. I could've been kidnapped, killed, cut up, eaten." Felix added, crossing his hands as he held his forearms together, his body starting to tremble and shake. Chan, not wanting to make the teen more sensitive, was hesitant to hug the younger; he was afraid that the blonde may find the comforting gesture unsettling.

"No. Never." Chan said the softest voice. Not really knowing what else he could do to ease the situation except talking, the white-haired ghoul stayed in his place quietly, continuing, "Well, at least not by me."

"You're different lix. None of the people I hunt are innocent. They are- _were_ \- selfish people who didn't give a second thought and raped, abused, murdered. They were willing to do anything to please themselves." The older ghoul explained.

"They ..were?" Felix asked as he looked directly at his hyung, trying to confirm the older's words as his body slowly eased up from its previously tensed state.

"Yeah... I made a promise to myself once." Chan began, thinking back to that time. Knowing that now was not the right time to delve into his past memories, the older male looked at felix with a sad smile as he played with his fingers, adding on to his previous words, "A promise to never hunt or prey on the innocent."

"Please, Lix... You have to eat." The older male pleaded.

Seeing the expression painted on the Chan's face, Felix realized how serious yet desperate the older was. Although he was still very hesitant, he understood where Chan was coming from. He didn't want him and the other residents of the cafe to be worried anymore.

"Okay... I'll eat."

~~~

Ever since that day, Felix's stamina has increased immensely which he appreciated a lot instead of constantly pushing himself. He placed down his fork after finishing his meal for the day, showing a satisfied expression.

"Wow... human flesh must taste really nice." Jeongin said as he spoon fed himself egg fried rice he had bought from the chinese takeaway nearby.

"Best thing I've tasted since forever." Felix replied before realizing who he was talking to and what he had said, covering his mouth as he bowed down as a way to apologize, "Ah! I shouldn't be saying something like that to you. I'm really sorry."

"No, it's fine. Even I get curious sometimes, you know?" Jeongin said, laughing it off.

After everyone had finished their food, Felix and Jeongin had gone to clean up the mess that was left after dinner; the rest of the group stayed back at the table, talking to each other as they waited for the two to finish. Soon enough, they did their task and the two quickly joined the others.

"Alright, since everyone seems to be here - well, except Hyunjin - but that's besides the point. So anyway, apparently it's that time of the month-" Chan said, getting cut off by a shocked and betrayed looking Jisung who exclaimed, "You're a girl?!"

"Of course not, you idiot." Seungmin sighed, shaking his head. Everytime Jisung does anything dumb, Seungmin wonders if there was any limit to his stupidity. As of now, it seemed like they were nowhere near the end.

"But he said it's _'that time of the month'_." Jisung whined as he made air quotations with his fingers.

"Doesn't mean that he's a girl, unless he prefers to be called with 'she or her' pronouns but I highly doubt it." , Seungmin said, getting more frustrated at the older male. He really couldn't help but question who was the older one amongst the two of them sometimes. The younger tried to calm himself down, reasoning with himself, 'Common sense doesn't work on him." He said as he shifted away from his direction and folded his arms. "Don't even bother trying. It seriously isn't worth it.'

The orangette harrumphed and exclaimed, "Yes it does, and what do you mean not worth it-!"

The irritated younger ghoul rolled his eyes and gave up on trying to convince the older otherwise - it was pointless to fight a losing battle. Albeit, he still grumbled inwardly at the loss, he responded, "Whatever, we're ending this conversation. Hyung _please_ continue before this goes any further. I'm practically begging at this point"

"Uh, right... Where was I?" Chan spoke out, momentarily pausing as he continued, "Oh! So like I was saying where it's that of the month where our supply of flesh finally runs out. So tonight, me and Seungmin are going to hunt..."

"Huh?! Why is only Seungmin going with you? I want to go too!" Jisung exclaimed, standing up as he slammed his hands on the dinner table and petulantly stomped his foot.

"Well, Jeongin has school in the morning, I assumed Felix would be going out with his friend again and as for you Jisung..." Chan stated, tilting his head after he paused. The white-haired ghoul tried to recall his original reasoning.

After giving it some thought, nothing came to mind and so the older ghoul truthfully replied, "Huh... actually I don't know. Guess it just didn't come to mind. Can I trust you that you'll be fine if you go?"

"Of course you can! They don't call me the notorious S class _Chronosaurus_ for nothing!" Jisung said as he stood up from his seat, both of his hands holding onto the side of his hips. The people in the room just silently stare at the ghoul, not wanting to comment about it in case Jisung decides to complain - which in most cases, is likely.

"Yeah, you can trust me." Felix responded. Suddenly being reminded of Changbin, the blonde recalled the older ghoul mentioning to him the other day that the older had something he had to do today. The blonde then relayed this to the others, "Oh right! Aside from that, I actually don't have anything planned for tonight. It would be great if I could go too."

"But Innie will be at home alone then. That's too irresponsible." Seungmin asserted, frowning at the thought of leaving the youngest on his own.

"I'll just go with you. I can even help by acting as bait like I would usually do, if you want." Jeongin offered. Somehow this seemed to easily wave off the older male's concern - perhaps because he was certain that the human would be safer outside with them than alone at home without.

Seeing that everything was sorted out, Chan put on a content smile on his face as he excitedly voiced out the conclusion to their discussion, "Well, that's settled then. I guess we're all going!"

With that, the others broke out into excited chatter amongst themselves as the white-haired ghoul thought, 'Family field trip, huh. What's the worst that could happen?'

~*~*~*~*~

Just after the clock struck midnight, a group of five could be seen lounging around on the rooftop of the Young Wings cafe.

One of them had a half-black, half-white mask that was rather reminiscent of comedy and tragedy masks seen at opera houses or theatres; a combination of both with each half depicting the opposing characteristics. Although the cracks and red-ligament-like stitches holding the two halves together made it much more daunting. The said figure had light blonde tresses and was wearing a simple outfit - a black t-shirt under a dark grey corduroy jacket coupled with black pants and a pair of black vans.

The next had worn a mask that seemed to be somewhat steampunk inspired with the various pipes emerging from the sides and a SCBA over what would be his mouth. The said mask was gold-tinted complementing the bright orange hair that the figure has. The male was wearing a baggy anime-print shirt that had long red-and-black striped sleeves paired with black tech wear joggers and a pair of black Nike Air Forces.

The third figure was wearing a black crop-top sweater with a plain white shirt peeking out from underneath it, tucked into slim-fitting black pants with chains and a pair of black ultraboost shoes. His mask was arguably the most terrifying with large, sharp teeth; long, red stitches coming down the middle; and screw-like objects around the mouth.

Next to him was a slightly shorter figure wearing a plain, silky, black shirt with an unzipped double-crest leather jacket on top of it along with tapered black denim pants and a pair of military style black ankle boots. His mask depicted a ferocious wolf that has entered multiple battles; eventually leaving it with a scar across its face, one of its eyes forced shut ever since.

The last figure had the simplest mask - it being a common black pitta face mask that one could find virtually anywhere. He was wearing a casual navy blue sweater with a grey hood along with a black and white pleated dress shirt underneath of which only a small bit peeked out of the sweater's sleeves, covering most of his hands. He also wore a pair of dark, ripped, denim jeans and black converse hightops. Different from the others, he was the only one who was carrying a black duffel bag.

Standing right beside him, Seungmin turned his head towards the youngest male and only human, speaking to the younger with a worry filled tone. "You don't have to do this anymore you know? One of us can just stay back with you."

"it's fine, hyung, I want to go. Besides, with three more ghouls than usual, I'm sure that nothing could go wrong." Jeongin replied, shaking his head as he tried to reassurance the older male.

While those two were talking, Chan was looking at the list of names that Seungmin had given him earlier on. Every name and the reason they were put on the list was neatly written on the white paper sheets of a black leatherback journal.

With the amount of information the younger male had managed to compile for each individual - pictures included - and with it being so detailed, the white-haired ghoul realised exactly how good the younger was at his job; it must have been child's play for the journalist to dig up some dirt about him back when the younger tried to frame him.

After spending some scanning through the pages, the oldest ghoul set his sights on a specific target. He closed the journal, placing it into his jacket's inner pocket before informing the others of the decided target and signalling them to move out.

Soon enough, they were all jumping on the rooftops from building to building. That is, with the exception of Jeongin, who was being piggybacked by Chan, as he couldn't possibly compete with the speeds the others were moving at for a couple of more than obvious reasons - them being ghouls and him being a human.

As the group slowly approached their first victim's expected whereabouts, courtesy of Seungmin's adept information gathering, Jisung - with his abnormal hearing - had overheard something peculiar. A group of men were boisterously talking to one another which was, of course, nothing too out of the ordinary.

What had made his brain churn was that the mindless chatter was being accompanied by the cries and pleas of someone who he assumed to be a woman, based off of the higher pitched voice she had. Being the ever so curious person he is, the orangette decided to go to the source of the voices, curious about what was happening. Following his hearing, he broke off from the rest of the group as he took a right turn, jumping down towards a lower building.

"Sungie! Where are you going?" Felix called out to the older ghoul, only to be left unheard as the orangette had completely ignored everything around him in favor of focusing on the voices he had overheard.

"God... what now?" Chan asked, stopping in his tracks. Running over a couple of possibilities in his mind, he let Jeongin off of his back and turned to Sengmin and Felix as he instructed them, "You know what? You two go follow and check on him while I search for our target. And Innie, you stay here, just in case whatever it was that Jisung found turns out to be dangerous."

The three younger males nodded, showing the older that they understood and the two ghouls immediately went to chase after Jisung. The white-haired male waited for the two to leave before also going off. Meanwhile, the youngest of the group silently sat down against a wall; despite having not said anything about the situation, he was visibly annoyed.

When Felix and Seungmin caught up with Jisung, they found him crouching down, looking at something attentively. Just as the two were about to scold the elder for leaving so suddenly, however, they finally took notice of what had drawn his attention. A group of people which consisted of three investigators, wearing their signature monochromatic long coats, holding silver briefcases, along with a ragged up female they were cornering.

"I can't believe how ungrateful people like you are. Despite our very busy schedule, we accompanied you so that no harm comes your way. What's so hard about repaying your beloved everyday heroes?" The oldest looking of the three investigators questioned, his tone clearly threatening the woman.

Hearing this the lady anxiously responded, "Y-you didn't tell me there was even a fee."

"Please, I have no money left." She was practically begging them, having long since been driven to a point of despair. After briefly scanning the facial pictures of these investigators, Seungmin immediately spoke up, "The one who just spoke is a First Class. The brunette and auburn-haired beside him are Rank 2."

"How do you know?" Jisung asked, turning to look at the younger in confusion.

"Oh, the last time I saw Hyunjin, I made him compile a list of all investigators to help me with some stuff for my journalist job. I thought it might prove to be useful, but I never thought I would end up using it for something like this." Seungmin replied, gesturing at the scene in front of them.

"Hey, guys? I think the lady is just a human. Don't you think we should help her? She seems a bit beaten up. Who knows what they could've done to her?" Felix added, outwardly expressing his concern for the female.

After momentarily contemplating and arguing amongst themselves, they eventually agreed on helping her and jumped off of the building's roof, surprising the people below with their 'grand' entrance. One of the lower ranked investigators - the brunette guy - had the biggest reaction, nearly jumping out of his shoes as he cursed, "Shit! What the fuck?! Where did they come from?!"

"Wait, don't be rash!" The auburn-haired investigator exclaimed, holding his peer back from haphazardly running at the newly arrived group as he supplied the other two with what he knew about the other party, "Those two ghouls are S classes. The other one I'm not sure but he does seems oddly familiar. I think he's one of the new ghouls Hyunjin reported. _The Jester_ , was it?"

"Jester? But he's a C class, isn't he? Why is he with them?" The brunette asked.

Felix was surprised when the two investigators mentioned him, having thought that Jisung and Seungmin standing in front of him would have distracted them from him. He was even more shocked at the familiar name and the appearance of a name that while referring to him was not his name, _'Jester...?'_

"Calm down you two, that's not very professional of you. Besides, I'm sure with frail figures like those, they wouldn't be much of a challenge for us." The oldest investigator said, looking at the three masked ghouls with a diabolical smirk as he let out a sadistic chuckle. The man was baselessly confident, it wasn't that easy to defeat an S class - let alone kill two of them and a C class as well.

Jisung's pride was hurt and with him being extremely easy to rile up, the orangette was instantly ready to go charge forward after hearing what the investigator had said. Fortunately, Seungmin managed to grab onto his arm and stop him from preemptively attacking the group of investigators.

"Not now." He whispered, tightening his grip on the older's arm.

Naturally, the senior investigator - contrary to what one would expect from his ignorant and carefree appearance - saw this and decided to approach the ghoul, "My, my. Why are you holding back your hound? Afraid that he could get hurt? Are you scared?"

"You know, as an Investigator you're supposed to protect the weak, not pressure them into giving you some type of reward." Seungmin calmly responded, choosing not at all to give in to the senior investigator's taunts. He could tell that the man was a schemer, an overconfident one at that causing him to scoff, thinking, 'He's elementary at best.'

"Now, why should I listen to you?" The investigator said as he pressed the button that was on his briefcase which quickly morphed into his quinque, aiming it towards Seungmin. The ghoul quickly shielded himself using his kagune, his irises turning blood red, his eyes gleaming in the dark as the investigator continued, "You're the one who eats my kind afterall."

After seeing their senior initiating the fight with Seungmin, the two lower ranked investigators quickly decided to follow suit, activating their quinques and joining in the fight. With the journalist no longer stopping him, Jisung had waited a while but after seeing this also entered the battle.

This put them in a three (3) versus two (2) situation, which was actually quite unfair; well to the investigators at least. Seungmin and Jisung were more than powerful enough to handle the three on their own so, in reality, they were just playing around with the investigators. Felix took a few steps back when he realized a fight was starting and was now just watching.

As the fight continued, the brunette couldn't help but notice that The Jester was just standing on the side, watching everything from afar. Judging by his timid posture and overall rank, the investigator was confident in his abilities that he would be able to easily eliminate the ghoul. So when he saw the perfect opportunity, he dodged the attacks of Chronosaurus and quickly ran towards his target.

Seeing this, Jisung's first instinct was to go and protect Felix. However, just as he was about to stop the brunette from escaping and prevent his younger twin from getting hurt, the auburn-haired male was able to land a hit on the absent-minded ghoul, forcefully shifting the orange-haired ghoul's focus onto his current situation and away from the blonde.

The half-ghoul started panicking when he realized the brunette investigator charging towards him. He turned to look behind him, trying to see if there was a possible escape route. Unfortunately for him, it seems that the only thing that greeted him was a dead end - he couldn't run away.

During Felix's moment of panic and distress, the brunette investigator had already made his way to the blonde. Now standing right before him, time seemed to slow down as the brunette swung his quinque towards the half-ghoul and in response to this, Felix closed his eyes - as though it would be any less painful if he couldn't see it.

As his eyes shut closed, he felt something sprouting out of the lower section of his back. Its appearance had made him feel a somewhat ticklish sensation in the area; it was a familiar feeling but he couldn't place his mind on what it was. After a second passed with nothing piercing his skin, the blonde slowly opened his eyes to see two red limbs stopping the quinque from hitting him.

Almost immediately, time sped up again as the investigator took a step back before lunging forward to attack the blonde once more, shouting as he did so, "Why the fuck is only one of your eyes red?! You're a freak, aren't you?!"

The attempt was similarly, effortlessly thwarted by Felix with his kagune and albeit his ability to easily do so, the blonde made no move to hit back. The half-ghoul was contemplating whether or not to attack back but upon seeing the helpless and sacred woman, he was reminded of why they had initiated a fight with the investigator trio in the first place.

He took a deep breath as he tried to gather enough courage to attack. Gritting his teeth, the blonde began his assault and after a couple of tries, Felix finally managed to land a hit to the brunette's torso. Being unable to properly control his strength, the blonde's punch sent the investigator flying towards the wall.

Momentarily shocked at how much strength he had behind his strike, Felix snapped out his daze and immediately ran towards the body when he realised the brunette was completely still and unmoving. He placed his hand underneath the investigator's nose to check for breathing but was unable to feel anything.

The brunette investigator was _dead_.

His mind nearly crashed as it was sent on a whir, the same thoughts plaguing his mind endlessly perhaps even almost mockingly so, 'He's dead! I killed someone! Oh my god! I killed someone!'

On the other side, Jisung - who had seen Felix kill the brunette from the corner of his vision - quickly got bored of playing around and ferociously stabbed at the auburn-haired investigator's side. The investigator, obviously, did not take this lightly and moved his quinque to block the red limb. As pitiful as it sounds, due to the high brunt of force backing the limb, it merely provided the investigator with a measly second - before the orangette's bikaku broke through the man's quinque.

Seungmin in the meantime, found an opportunity to tackle the senior investigator to the ground. Restraining the man with his rinkaku, he moved closer and placed his foot at the crook of the man's neck as a warning and means to ensure that the man wouldn't attempt anything too stupid or rash. This, however, did nothing to stop the senior investigator from wriggling around and trying to break free.

Clearly, this annoyed Seungmin a lot and true to this, it didn't take long for the journalist's patience to run thin. The ghoul stabbed the man's right leg causing the man to let out a deafening scream - to which he promptly replied to by applying more pressure and weight onto the man's neck, effectively choking him.

Feeling that giving the man such a quick death was a waste, the journalist released his hold. The man let out a couple of coughs as he wheezed, trying to steady his breathing. Afterwards, the man somehow turned his head as much as he could, trying to look at Seungmin directly in the eye.

As soon as he managed to do so, he gave the ghoul a ridiculing smile as he taunted him, "Do you think this means anything? You fucking basta-"

Before the man was able to finish, Seungmin had already crushed his neck. Extremely satisfied with the investigator's death but feeling revolted at the blood splatters that were covering his shoe, he sneered as he dragged it across the ground, scraping the blood off and staining dark asphalt red.

The ghoul then turned to look at Jisung and upon seeing the male standing by the lone corpse of the auburn-haired investigator snapped his head towards Felix to check and see if the blonde was harmed. He hadn't noticed the man breaking off from the orangette earlier due to being busy plotting the senior investigator's death. Thinking about it again, Seungmin frowned as reflected upon his actions, 'I should have tortured him a bit more.'

Unable to see any clear sign of injuries, Seungmin then took notice of the dead body near the blonde's feet. Exchanging a short glance with Jisung, the two ghouls proceeded to approach the half-ghoul.

"Congratulations on your first kill Lix!" Jisung exclaimed, before getting a hard smack to the back of his head by the journalist, who knew and understood better that this wasn't something that Felix was accustomed to yet.

As Jisung complained and whined about the younger ghoul's actions while rubbing the back of his head, Chan, who was carrying both Innie and a large black duffel bag, jumped down to where they were from the building nearby. The white-haired ghoul was shocked to see three dead investigators lying on the ground.

He was just about to ask why they killed the investigator trio when the lady, who had been too scared to leave or do anything earlier, let a whimper of fear escape from her mouth as she tearfully pleaded with them, "Please, please don't kill me. I have two children back at home waiting for me. P-please I'm begging you..."

Chan was briefly stunned but quickly pieced things together, swiftly gaining an understanding of what had transpired. Scanning the woman's figure to ensure that she would be able to make it back safely, the oldest ghoul then made a hand gesture showing her that they had no intention of stopping her from leaving. Her previously dim eyes gained light as she furtively thanked them while running away and disappearing into the distance.

Focusing his attention back at the three younger ghouls, Chan noticed that Felix was just staring at the ground where the lifeless body of the brunette investigator lay, his irises still a bright red colour. Roughly knowing what had happened earlier, he placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder as a way to reassure him.

Coming back into reality at the contact, Felix silently nodded at the older in thanks. The half-ghoul had by then come to accept that murder with his 'line of profession' would be inevitable; it was something he now had to expect he would have to do from time to time.

Seeing as the half-ghoul didn't seem to suffer from any serious mental repercussions, Chan nodded back as he smiled in relief under his mask. The white-haired ghoul then pointed at a certain area, asking the two S-class ghouls to help him, "Sung, Minnie, can you help drag the bodies to this spot and throw it upwards on the count of three?"

Immediately doing as they were told, both ghouls promptly waited for the older's cue. As soon as the count reached three, they threw the bodies into midair and when it reached a particular height, Chan released his kagune. Using the red limbs, he quickly chopped up the bodies into rough segments.

Afterwards, he - with the help of the others - collected the said body parts and stuffed as much of them as they could into the large duffel bag that Jeongin, and later Chan, was carrying earlier. When the group was done, Felix held the zippers together as the white-haired ghoul pulled on it, securing the parts within.

Feeling that it was about time they got rid of the heavy bag that would only serve to slow them down later in the hunt, Chan took out his phone from his pockets - earning him curious glances from the others - as he made a quick call, cutting straight to the point as the person picked up, "Got another one at XXX. Oh and actually, if you could, bring a couple extra bags."

The person on the other side of the phone whistled praisingly as they teased him a little, "Already? God damn! You're getting quicker at this, aren't you Chan? I'll be there in a bit."

A few minutes after the oldest ghoul had made the call, a rather familiar figure emerged from the shadows and appeared in front of them, having jumped off one of the buildings that made up the walls of alleyway.

The figure was wearing an oversized black hoodie with the hood covering their head, black pants, and black casual shoes. They also had two empty black duffel bags slung over each shoulder. The only other noteworthy item they had on what seemed to be a plague doctor mask; instead the beak was a lot shorter which made it resemble a typical songbird.

The figure immediately walked towards Chan, handing him the empty bags and grabbing the filled bag that was in his hand. The white-haired ghoul hastily placed the leftover flesh that didn't fit in the first bag in one of the empty ones and handed it over to her as well.

Before letting go of the bag, Chan talked to the person briefly, "Sejeong Noona, I forgot to say this earlier but please use the door when you head back. You know where I keep the spare key."

"Oh right! I'll definitely do that!" Sejeong chirpily replied with a 'reassuring' tone as she giggled and as though apologizing in advance, she jokingly patted the white-haired ghoul's shoulder. This had only made Chan even more worried than he was before.

Being able to imagine the expression the white-haired ghoul was making underneath his mask, she laughed at him before taking her leave. As she left, she couldn't help but note the sudden appearance of a couple of familiar scents.

Chan sighed as he shook his head, inwardly wondering what kind of problem the older female would cause this time. Not wanting to waste too much energy worrying about it, he accepted his fate and sighed, handing Felix and Jisung a bag each.

Telling the only human and youngest of their group to hold onto the last bag, the white-haired ghoul picked Jeongin up as he requested Seungmin to track down the next target. The younger nodded and immediately pointed out a direction without hesitation; in any case, the journalist had already memorised the contents of their hit-list before he had handed it over to Chan.

Throughout the course of their hunt, they had ended up killing two more people; both of which had been corrupt businessmen who had just come back from a nearby nightclub. The night was quickly passing and due to the time they had wasted fighting the investigator trio earlier, they were rather behind schedule.

It didn't help that most of them had work to do later in the morning either. While they had the option to either call it a night or go through with their original plan, they decided to finish off. Truth be told, it was much less because they wanted to than the fact that - according to the initial arrangement - they only had one last target to kill.

Soon enough, they found the aforementioned target - a middle-aged man who was currently drunk - in a somewhat public road. The street was rather crowded considering the time but it made a lot of sense when one took into consideration the large quantity of pubs, bars and nightclubs in the area.

While most of the people passing by every now and then were likely hammered beyond words, it was still extremely risky to just outright and cold-bloodedly murder a man in the middle of a crowd. However, they also knew that it would take ages if they expected the man to head into a deserted area on his own.

As merely waiting in hopes for such an opportunity to present itself to them is plain idiotic, they sent Jeongin - who was estatic at the fact that he finally got to do something other than standing around or getting piggy backed by Chan - to approach and lure in their victim to somewhere less crowded.

The young teen had - to the surprise of everyone other than Seungmin - been very quick and efficient with his task, having assumed the role of a junior colleague of the man who had come to help him get home. With no one suspecting a single thing, Jeongin had led the man into a quiet one-way alley in no time.

Seeing this, the group of ghouls who had been watching for some time couldn't help but silently praise the younger's skills in their minds as they jumped down to meet the human so that they could finally finish what they had set out to do and go to bed.

Tired and wishing for nothing but to head home, Chan swiftly made his way to Jeongin and hit the man at the nape of his neck, knocking him out. He then held the man's head in his hands, however, just as he was about to snap the man's neck, a voice called out to them from behind the group, "Excuse me, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but could you please step away from him? He's one of mine, you see."

Startled, they turned their heads towards the source of sound to see a group of seven - six of which, based on the masks they wore to hide their faces, were ghouls. The newly arrived group stood quite a few meters away from them but the distance did little to lessen the tense atmosphere that was present between the two parties.

Being different from the others, the one stood out the most was the very same person who wasn't wearing a mask. He probably didn't need one anyway; his long grey-ish purple bangs and shoulder-length locks covering the upper half of his face. Despite adorning himself with relatively casual clothing - a dark grey overcoat, black buttoned-up with the first button being open, black pants and black boots, the man gave a regal aura and from that alone, the group was able to single him out as the leader of the group.

"If you don't, I'm afraid that there will be... _consequences._ " The male with the unusual hairstyle said, giving them a deceivingly docile smile as he continued, "We've only just met and I would hate for us to start our relationship on bad terms, don't you?"

"Uriel, a powerful SS class ghoul with a very interesting koukaku. He's usually seen with a group of other equally dangerous ghouls where they perform random missions so is always unpredictable." said Chan who had instantly recognised the man in one glance, relaying what he knew about the man to the others.

Cautiously, scanning the man from head to toe the white-haired ghoul continued, "The name was assigned to him partly as a warning to investigators who go against him and partly on the basis that he may look and act like an angel at times but he will not hesitate to kill and torture you, should you cross him."

"Just like Uriel.... The archangel of flames and repentance that would burn those he deemed guilty for all of eternity under the guise of 'purifying' them." Seungmin added, his expression turning grim.

Mind churning, Seungmin frowned as he questioned why a group of powerful ghouls would target a specific human. By deduction, the journalist knew that it was unlikely that the group had found the human just to kill and eat him. However, no other plausible intentions made any sense either. He hadn't caught wind of any interaction between the man and Uriel and he had been very thorough with his investigation on the people he had placed on their hit-list.

'How strange... If that human knew Uriel, I should've known.' Seungmin thought as his curiosity peaked. Only he himself knew that he had been constantly keeping tabs on everyone on the list from the second he had written their names in it.

The journalist had always been a cautious person and he refused to work with outdated data. After all, what was the point of having a hit-list if it turns out that everyone on it is already dead - they live in a dangerous world and many people die everyday. Unable to wrap his mind around it, Seungmin stared at Uriel as he inwardly questioned the man's actions, 'What was your goal? Why is he your target?'

Deciding to try and rile up the man to see if he would slip up and reveal something, the journalist - to the shock and dismay of the rest of his group who didn't understand what he was doing - responded to him negatively, "Uriel, was it? We got to him first. What right do you have to take him from us?"

Hearing this, Uriel seemed to sigh regretfully, his eyes giving off a sharp glint - not that they knew since it was covered by his hair - as he said, "First things first, I go by Junji not Uriel. That name is stupid really and I can't stand it. Second, I really didn't want to do this but as you have made it clear that you have no intention of giving him to us and resolving this peacefully - you leave me no choice but to fight."

"Such a shame." he continued, shaking his head as he held his chin. Letting out a breath of air, he clapped his hands together as he added, "Well then, I believe the pleasantries are over."

The group of five all tensed up at this, knowing very well that any chance of them getting out of this unharmed was thrown out the window the moment Seungmin had acted up. Slowly and carefully, they backed away from Junji's group as they fell into a triangular formation with Felix and Jeongin standing inside it.

"Men, retrieve our target."

With that, the battle began as the six ghouls lunged at them. It was an intense fight, right off the bat with them being vastly outnumbered. While arguably the enemy had only one person above them, since Junji stood still without joining the fight, the situation was actually much worse since they had two non-combatants in their group.

Both groups exchanged a multitude of blows with one another, Felix having soon joined the fight as having to fight multiple opponents concurrently had quickly tired the others out. At this point, their bodies were drenched in sweat and their limbs were already beginning to feel heavy but they merely clenched their fist and pushed forward. After all, it was either they fight or they perish.

The battle that had started out as the clashing of strength had slowly but surely turned to a battle of attrition. Surprisingly enough, through the power of sheer will and perseverance, they pushed through their enemy's defense. Having matched their timing well, Chan, Jisung and Seungmin had managed to coordinate themselves and simultaneously attack.

The five other ghouls saw this and quickly diverted the trio's attention from the ghoul but having been assaulted from three different directions, the ghoul in question was unable to defend himself and had sustained severe injuries.

Seeing this, Junji who had been silently watching them clicked his tongue in displeasure. He lifted his arm and pulled his coat sleeve slightly to reveal a silver watch underneath it. Looking at the time, he was even more displeased as a scornful frown formed as he proceeded to yell at his underlings, "Useless! All of you are useless!"

The sudden outburst had caused the fighting ghouls to pause, shocked. Junji's group seemed unbothered by this, however, as they quickly took the chance to deal the startled ghouls a couple of blows. Of course, with Chan's battle experience and leadership, they still managed to get into pace once more although their formation had broken.

Irritated, Junji scanned the battlefield to look for a way to finish the group once and for all. His eyes landed on a certain figure who was cowering behind the group - Jeongin. He paused momentarily before coming to a decision.

Signalling one of his underlings back, informing him of the plan he had devised. The said ghoul nodded in understanding and quickly passed on the orders to the others. As soon as everyone was made aware, all of them pulled back and stood behind Junji. Inwardly, thankful but suspicious of the sudden break, the group silently exchanged questioning glances with one another, breathing heavily.

Unbothered by the scene in front of him, Junji then came to the forefront, facing Seungmin as he taunted him, "Care to fight me alone?"

Narrowing his eyes, the journalist went through the various outcomes that could play out, 'What's his plan? Why did he stop them? He could've easily subdued us if he had joined. Why do this? No, no. I shouldn't think about that. What can we do? How do we get out of this?'

An idea then popped into fruition. It was a terrible one really but it wasn't like they had much of an option. It was either he took this chance - sacrifice himself - to let the others escape or they all die here. As an image of Jeongin's ecstatic smile and youthful self flashed, he steeled himself and made a decision. Turning back to try and convey to the others what he was about to do, his heart dropped.

"H-hyung..."

One of Junji's minions was standing there. With Jeongin. With his sharp, blood-red limb pointed directly at the human's throat.

Having caught sight of the opposing group's grim faces, Junji laughed as he mocked Seungmin, "You didn't actually think I would do something so stupid did you? That I would let one of you escape? It all went to plan. Distract you're little scheming self and take that wonderful young boy as our hostage."

The journalist gritted his teeth in anger but like the others, he stayed still. He didn't want to set off the SS class ghoul; it was no longer his life on the line and if anyone knew him remotely well, they would know that Seungmin would first burn the world to the ground before letting anything happen to Jeongin.

Junji approached them, circling around before stopping in front of Seungmin as he dropped his head to the younger ghoul's eye level as he smirked and asked, _"Frustrated?"_

The ghoul stood still although his fist which lay against his side formed a fist and clenched almost painfully against his palm. Junji tugged on his right cheek, turning it bright red. He proceeded to let go of it only to pat it harshly as he offhandedly commented, "Oh, you should be."

The SS class ghoul took a couple of steps back as he gestured at his subordinates. Without needing further instructions, they moved towards the defeated group and pushed them onto their knees as they subdued them. Junji happily hummed as he turned around and slowly walked to the end of the alley, jumping onto the roof.

Turning back to face them, he motioned the man holding Jeongin captive as he ordered, "Bring him to me."

Nodding, the ghoul swiftly did as told before returning back to the alleyway and picking up their original target who had been pleasantly ignored throughout the course of the fight. Looking at the terrified, trembling teen in his hold, Junji thought for a moment before saying, "You know what? I changed my mind. Maybe I will let you go after all. Just know that there won't be a next time."

"Why are you doing this?" Jeongin whispered. The SS class ghoul faltered a bit but proceeded to whisper back, "I'm really sorry about this but it had to be done."

Having finished placating the teen, he tugged him along to the edge of the rooftop as gave the four kneeling ghouls a sadistic grin as he remarked, "Let me give you all a little warning."

With that, Junji pushed Jeongin off of the roof. The four ghouls could do nothing but shout and cry as their youngest fell through the air and landed onto the ground, flat on his back with a loud crack, resounding.

"Jeongin!" Seungmin cried, rushing towards the younger as the ghoul holding him back let go of his hold. His hands hovered over the human's body as he fretted over him, too worried that something might happen to actually touch the male.

Junji remained indifferent and after signalling his group, they left the group of five behind. Although all of them were seething in rage, wanting to chase and hunt the group down, they knew they were powerless against them. Just like Junji said, there won't be a next time and while they didn't admit it, they were absolutely terrified of the consequences they would have to face if they stood in his way again.

Chan rushed to Jeongin's side, checking the male to see if he was breathing. The younger suddenly coughed violently as he groaned in pain and the white-haired ghoul's heart beated harshly against his chest - partly in relief and the other in worry.

He called out to the younger, trying to get the help the younger to gain consciousness, "Innie, hey! Can you hear me?"

"H-hyung?" The human managed to push past his lips as the figure's off his loved ones kneeling and crying next to where he lay started to become clear. Chan helped him to sit up as Seungmin sighed in relief and supplied, "The fall must have been too short to kill him."

The other's eyes glinted in understanding as they looked at the three story building from which the younger had been flung off of. Chan sighed as tears escaped his eyes, "Oh, thank god. I don't know what I'd do if I had to lose any of yo-"

"You didn't, hyung." Felix said, cutting the older ghoul off. Seungmin nodded to this, clenching his hand as ran through what happened, blaming himself for acting recklessly. Making a promise to himself, the journalist asserted, "I'll make sure none of us ever will."

"Hm." Chan hummed appreciatively, "Let's go home."

They all nodded, silently agreeing with the oldest ghoul. Suddenly, just as they thought the worst had passed, Jeongin called out to them as the remaining colour in his and the other's faces faded out entirely.

_"Hyung.... I- I... I can't feel my legs."_


	26. Bitter Sweet

“Patient was found by his guardian after falling from a three story building. He claims that he isn’t able to move the lower half of his body.” A woman quickly responded as she ran up to the assigned medic.

The said woman wore an orange, collared t-shirt with black stripes that ran down the sides of the clothing up until its sleeves. Each sleeve had a patch on it, the right one having the South Korean flag and the other having a six-pointed star insignia. If the uniform was any indication, she was a paramedic.

Almost as soon as the female paramedic was finished reporting to the doctor, a group of people appeared from the separate entrance that was used specifically for patients who needed immediate care. Swiftly taking the stretcher which held the half-conscious Jeongin - who was in such a state due to the adrenaline having worn off - out from the back of the ambulance that had been temporarily parked by the entrance, the two paramedics rushed to bring the injured teen inside.

Moving alongside the bed was Chan and Seungmin. The group had had a brief discussion and decided that those two were the ones that should get in the ambulance to escort Jeongin to the hospital since the journalist was the closest with the teen and the investigator being their unofficial guardian. Of course, this didn’t mean that Jisung and Felix wouldn’t show up - just that they had to run all the way to the hospital.

As the youngest of their group was quickly pushed into the building, Chan followed while Seungmin had stopped just in front of the entrance. He knew fully well that he wouldn’t be able to enter; all big hospitals had RC scan gates and he didn’t want Jeongin to die because the surgeons and other medical practitioners were too busy dealing with a ghoul that had arrived at their doorstep.

The journalist waited by the entrance, pacing back and forth as he gnawed on his nails in immense worry. The ghoul became more and more impatient as time passed, the thought of Jeongin possible death causing the end’s of his hair to curl. Not too long into his incessant pacing, Jisung and Felix arrived.

The orangette had a concerned look on his face as he ran up to the younger ghoul and asked, “How is he?”.

“I don’t know... We’ll just have to wait and see when Chan gets out.” Seungmin replied.

Felix silently watched the two converse, waiting to follow either one of the two ghouls to enter the building. After a few minutes passed with neither one making a move to go to Jeongin, the blonde became confused. Ultimately reasoning with himself into thinking that they were staying outside to calm themselves down before entering, he hastily ran inside as he mumbled, “I’ll go on ahead first then. You guys take your time.”

As the half ghoul was about to pass through the entrance, Seungmin and Jisung began to panic, “Wait! Don’t go in there’s a R-”

Right before their eyes, Felix, half-ghoul Felix, was able to enter the building with no problem. The blonde managed to enter without triggering a single alarm. Seungmin and Jisung exchanged questioning glances as the younger muttered under his breath, “Is there a malfunction in the RC cell detector or is it something else?”

Remembering Chan’s peculiar ability, the journalist’s eyes gave off a sharp glint as he inwardly noted to himself, ‘I guess I’ll just have to ask him when I get the chance.’

~*~*~*~*~

There were a lot of ways Chan would have wanted to start his day at CCG, but being at the file storage room was definitely not one of them. Flipping through the vast array of papers, he couldn’t seem to find what he wanted. Furrowing his eyebrows, he placed the file back into its original place and tried again, picking up another file off of the shelf.

Chan couldn’t understand why Junji and his group of ghouls were so persistent in taking away the drunk man they were planning to hunt. He could understand if the group had some motive behind hunting the man since the white-haired ghoul himself carefully picked out his targets but to be so hung over taking him, so relentless.

After all, their target was merely a man without a particularly high status who did crimes like any other criminal; in some sense, he was actually a pretty normal man. It didn’t make sense why they would go to such lengths and even fight a group of high ranked ghouls. While the opposing side did have more people, it still didn’t seem to be worth the risk.

Putting the lives of seven powerful, highly-ranked ghouls on the line to save or capture one measly human. If that wasn’t strange Chan really couldn’t fathom what was. On top of that, Seungmin - after double checking with his sources - had also told the older about his suspicions and it was indeed a marvel that the younger was unable to dig anything out.

With all that had transpired just three nights ago, Jeongin was now wheelchair-bound. According to what the doctor said, the height from the roof was just under the required height to kill the human but was more than enough to injure him. Coupled with the fact that the human had apparently landed in a rather awkward position, the teen was permanently disabled, having lost all feeling in his body from waist down.

Perhaps it was guilt, frustration, anger, regret or even the despair that had come after knowing they were helpless to do anything in the face of a stronger opponent. Whatever it may be, it was because of this that the entire group worked to the best of their abilities, determined to find as much information as possible. While they weren’t sure what they would do once they found Junji’s group down, but as of right now, their goal was to track the group down. However, to their dismay, there were very little results.

On Chan’s side, the only thing he could find were just generic things any investigator, including recent graduates from the academy, would know. Slowly but surely the lack of success was wearing the white but currently black-haired ghoul’s patience thin, driving him more and more insane as time flew by.

Expressing his frustrations by slamming closed the file he held and harshly shoving it back into the shelf, Chan internally cursed at CCG’s evident incompetence, ‘Why can’t I find anything?! Is CCG that bad at collecting info? They think they can eradicate ghouls with this kind of skill set? They must be high!’

Exasperatedly sighing, the black-haired male rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm himself, continuing to mull, ‘Then again, it is pretty hard to get anything from a high class ghoul. I mean, my file is almost empty. Or is it that my investigator rank is too low?’

Realizing he had probably spent too much time in the storage room, Chan had no choice but to give up for now and return to his duties. He didn’t want to make his favorite subordinate wait for too long. At the end of the day, it wouldn’t be very good if his junior would act cold for the rest of the day - not that it made much of a difference, but, it would be nicer if the younger wasn’t in a constantly terrible mood.

Opening the door, the first person that came into Chan’s line of sight was Hyunjin who had - as suggested by his presence in the corridor - been standing in the hallway as he waited for his mentor to appear. The black-haired male blatantly showed his surprise before asking, “Hyunjin! Didn’t I tell you to go find Minho and not wait for me?”

The tall investigator nodded to relay to the older that he had followed his instructions. Afterwards, he proceeded to give a small sigh as he gave Chan a more detailed account of what he had done and posed his own question, “I did but I couldn’t find him. He’s probably training by himself again god knows where. Anyways, did you find anything?”

Near immediately, a sad and disappointed expression formed on the older’s face. While that alone was a clear response, the white-haired investigator shook his head to better express his reply. Seeing this caused Hyunjin to let out a small groan as he placed his hands on his hips and grumbled, “Ugh! How dare they do this to precious Innie?! If I ever get my hands on them they’ll be so sorry!”

Chan could only wryly laugh in response to the younger’s words. As the mentor and mentee pair continued to converse with each other, they slowly made their way towards the lobby where they came across a familiar figure. The said figure had similarly seen them, proceeding to come up to them and block their path.

“Minho, buddy! Ready for today’s training?” The white-haired male cheerfully greeted. As per normal, the younger didn’t do much in response but Chan - for some unknown reason - was unable to shake off the feeling that something was off with the male.

After observing the younger for a while, the older investigator realised what was different. For once, Minho didn’t seem to use his usual firm stance. Instead, he looked a bit nervous with one hand grabbing onto the other side’s elbow. With an uncharacteristically soft voice, he hesitantly answered the older’s inquiry, “A-actually... I was wondering if I can have a day off. Just for today at least.”

Chan and Hyunjin were equally shocked at the male’s words, quickly exchanging concerned and confused looks towards each other. Never in their whole lives have they ever expected to have heard something like that coming out of Minho’s mouth. Both of them clearly knew how seriously the male took his job.

“Are you really Minho hyung or an imposter? Wait, let me quickly check your temperature.” Hyunjin said as he reached his hand towards Minho’s forehead before the elder slapped the younger’s hand away from his face. His eyes flashed with annoyance as the male reverted to his usual tone, exclaiming, “Of course It’s me! Who else would it be?!”

There was another pause, the two investigators looked at each other yet again. Turning their heads towards Minho who was still waiting for his answer, Chan - after a short moment’s consideration - replied in a surprisingly cheerful tone, “Yes, absolutely! Take as long as you want. Have fun with whatever it is you’re going to do on your day off!”

The younger investigator seemed relieved to be given permission by his mentor and for the first time since the day they had all met, Minho - in a burst of glee - flashed the two a blinding smile, as he bid them farewell, “Thank you so much. Now if you’ll excuse me...”

Once it was clear that the male was no longer in the area, Chan’s hand shot out to hold onto Hyunjin’s arm as he felt weak in the knees, his mouth wide open. The taller investigator was also shocked, clenching the collar of his coat tightly.

At this point a single unanimous thought resounded through their minds, ‘That smile… It’s so beautiful…’

~*~*~*~*~

After getting the approval of his mentor, Minho quickly rushed his apartment to change from his formal attire into something more casual. Now that he took a proper look at his wardrobe for the first time in a while, he was confused as to why half of his clothes seemed to have disappeared. As he was trying to figure out where most of them went, he found a piece of crumpled paper buried under the pile of unused clothes.

**‘Hyung! I’m going to be borrowing some of your clothes! I hope you don’t mind. XOXO ♡**

**\- your favourite person, Hannie’**

Minho frowned at the sight of the note, suddenly feeling as though a heavy weight had been placed on top of his heart. Sighing, he walked up to his bedside table, placing the note down before making his way back to the closet. Ruffling through what little clothing he had left, the male quickly put together an outfit - a plain black shirt, an unzipped track suit that had two green stripes running down its sleeves and matching track pants.

Taking a pair of socks from a drawer, Minho stuffed his wallet into his pockets and made his way to the door. Stopping just in front, the male quickly sat and put on his socks and a pair of simple black and white converse. He got up, making sure that he had his keys with him before opening the door and walking out.

With what had happened around a week ago, Minho realized that he was slowly losing his only friend, Jisung. The knowledge had thrown him into a chaotic mess over the next few days and saying that it had made him feel terrible was an understatement. While he was bitter about the subject, he couldn’t exactly complain to the orangette about it.

Truthfully, it was less about the younger making friends than the possibility that he was being replaced. Adding how he had only recently come to understand that he had been ignoring Jisung into the equation, he himself couldn’t see why the younger wouldn’t do so.

Minho hasn’t been acknowledging the orangette’s feelings and on a few occasions he had even gone so far as to neglect the younger’s presence in its entirety. It made him think that maybe his mentor was right - he was taking his job too seriously, so much so that it began to affect the relationships he had with those around him.

Jisung had been with him since day one, congratulating him for every accomplishment he made, comforting him through every tragedy he had gone through. Now that he thought about it, Minho knew almost nothing about his best friend’s life and that made him feel horrible.

With that in mind, Minho had set out to concoct a plan to, hopefully, save their ‘dying’ friendship. He looked around to find a particular cafe that was located not too far away from his place. The cafe was said to serve the best coffee and treats, including Jisung’s favorite, cheesecake.

The plan was for him to meet up with Jisung there, sit down on one of the tables with him and talk it out. Jisung may not be very bothered by his recent behaviour, but the older himself was so although it may not necessarily end with their relationship going up in flames, he certainly didn’t want to risk it. No matter how small the risk may be.

As Minho boarded the bus, he took out his phone out of his pocket and texted Jisung’s number, telling him how he had the day off. Asking the orangette if he had time to spare and if wanted to hang out with him. Afterwards he sent the younger male the location of the cafe, when a thought came into his mind, ‘Is he even going to show up?’

The investigator shook his head in dismissal as he stuffed his phone inside of his pocket and glanced out of the bus window, ‘No, he will come. He has to...’

After arriving at the nearest stop, he scampered off of the bus and anxiously made the rest of his journey by foot. It had nothing to do with getting lost, he had memorized the directions he needed to take beforehand. It was more because the orangette had yet to reply to his earlier message and this stayed true even after he arrived.

Unsurprisingly, the cafe wasn’t all that appealing to the investigator who was rather simplistic in nature but since he figured Jisung would like it, he let go of his own views. Today was meant for the younger male to enjoy and in any case, if he succeeds in his current endeavor, they would have plenty of chances to visit places he prefers in the future.

Stepping inside, he was almost immediately greeted by the warm atmosphere of the cafe, the scent of baked goods and freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air. One of the staff - a freckled-blonde - quickly took note of Minho’s arrival and greeted him with a bright smile, to which the investigator returned.

Settling down on one of the unoccupied seats after making his order at the counter, it only took around 10 minutes before his order was served by the same blonde staff who had greeted him earlier. Thanking the blonde, he then silently watched as the male went behind the counter and through what he assumed was the back door. He proceeded to look at his order - a slice of cheesecake alongside a cup of iced americano.

Minho sat and waited for his only friend’s arrival, occasionally taking a small sip out of his cup. Initially, he had been shocked by the taste - bitter sweet, just the way he likes it. Knowing of the cafe’s reputation and having now seen for himself, he failed to quench his curiosity.

Using the table spoon he was provided, he cut off a small piece of the cheesecake. That too was amazing - rich and full of flavour yet creamy and fluffy. Lost in the taste, his eyes sparkled a bit before dimming as he looked out the window and wondered, ‘Jisung is definitely going to love this. I wonder how much longer is he going to take?’

Eventually, he retracted his gaze and sighed, feeling slightly disappointed. He thought about what the younger could be doing. Was he out with friends? Showering? Or perhaps the orangette was just ghosting him? His heart felt heavy as he lifelessly poked his cheesecake. Just as he was about to continue eating, he felt a vibration inside the pocket.

It was his phone.

Thinking that it might be Jisung who had just seen his message and agreed to meet up with him, Minho unlocked his phone with enthusiasm, only to be greeted by the younger’s dismissal as he was left disappointed yet again.

**‘Sorry currently too busy:((’**

**‘Maybe next timeヾ(•ω•`)oヾ(•ω•`)o’**

Of course, his disappointment was not directed at Jisung. He had been blaming himself for everything and there was no way he was going to start pushing things on the younger. The orangette had never once given him an excuse to avoid meeting up with the elder. If anything, Jisung would normally drop whatever he was doing for Minho.

The disparity between what would normally happen and what was currently happening sent the investigator into a spiral of thoughts, ‘Is he really trying to avoid me?’

Minho rested his chin on his hand and looked to the side. Who knows maybe seeing other people chattering away would take his mind off of it. Even if just for a bit. To his utter shock, he saw Jisung standing right in front of the entrance of the cafe.

The investigator had his eyes wide open, wondering why the younger had shown up despite having turned him down earlier and he couldn’t help but speculate, ‘Was he trying to scare me?’

The chime of the doorbell could be heard as Jisung pushed the door open, holding the glass door open as he helped Jeongin, who was sitting idly on his wheelchair, get inside. Minho, surprised to see the pitiful child, watched the two silently as the orangette slowly pushed the wheelchair forward.

Conveniently enough, the investigator was seated in a rather secluded spot. Somewhere too far for the orangette to immediately realize he was there - the younger being preoccupied also helped with that - but close enough to be able to see and hear him.

“It must be nice to be able to sit wherever you go. I want to be pushed around too!" Jisung blurted out, not thinking too much about it.

“Whatever you say, hyung..” Jeongin replied, knowing well that the elder meant no harm in his words.

As the two continue to converse, Minho couldn’t help but to feel glad that at least Jisung had ‘ditched’ him to go and help someone in need. However, the longer he spent looking at the two teens, the more he was reminded of what he and Jisung used to be before they drifted apart - before he had driven an invisible wedge between them.

Minho’s hands began to tremble, his eyes dilating slightly as his breathing became slightly laboured. ‘You fucking idiot! Did you really expect him to want to hang out with you? After all that you’ve done to him? Maybe if you were a decent fucking friend, you wouldn’t lose the only one you had!’ he harshly scolded himself. It escalated to the point that he had to leave so he wouldn’t create a scene.

~*~*~*~*~

When the two teens finally reached the living room, Jisung and Felix, who was on break at that moment in time, helped Jeongin off his wheelchair and sat him up on the sofa. As the ghoul sat right beside him, the youngest of the group looked at the older in the eye as he tried to convince him, “You know.... You don’t have to accompany me wherever I go. Now that we’re here, why not go out with Minho hyung?”

Earlier when the two were waiting for the pedestrian traffic light to turn green so that they could cross the road just outside the cafe, Jisung had taken the opportunity to check the notification he had gotten quite some time ago. Quickly taking a peak from his notification center, he was very excited to see a text from Minho asking him to hang out alongside with the link of the location.

Jisung started squealing, kept on talking about it to Jeongin before he realized he couldn't since he had to accompany Jeongin. He pouted and texted back before sulking as he pushed Jeongin along.

Back to the present, Jisung huffed and grumbled at Jeongin’s words indignantly responding, “But who’s going to take care of you? Chan hyung, Hyunjin, and Seungmin aren’t coming back anytime soon and Felix is busy with his job.”

Jeongin just stared at the orangette before sighing and arguing, “No, you should go. I’m sure if I told San hyung about this he would understand.”

“Oh?”

Hearing this Jisung became excited, rushing to open his phone to see the link to the location Minho had sent him earlier. Maybe he could catch the older male before he decided to work or do something else instead. Sadly for the orangette, it seemed that the older had unsent his message.

“Huh? Oh well...”

~*~*~*~*~

A few days have passed and Minho was still very much pissed at himself. This resulted in him being in a bad mood lately, which, on one hand, had made Chan and Hyunjin really annoyed and on the other they were both filled with worry for the male. The white-haired investigator sighed, feeling exasperated, “His day off must have been horrible. I guess he’s stuck like this for a few days. Just when I thought he was starting to open up too.”

As they were walking through the alleys, they came across a ghoul. The said ghoul wore a steampunk inspired mask, with various sized pipes emerging from the sides - Jisung. Hyunjin and Chan, recognising who it was, began inwardly cursing at the orangette’s luck and snapped their heads towards Minho, their minds rushing at a hundred miles per hour to try and think of a way to deter the male.

To their surprise, Minho seemed extremely calm - albeit his hands exhibiting a familiar tremble - and didn’t seem to plan on attacking. However, what little hope they had of somehow getting out of this was instantly demolished with the investigator’s next few words, “Just in time. I needed a stress reliever anyway.”

The investigator lunged at Jisung, pressing on his suitcase’s hidden button, his quinque quickly making its appearance. Two bright red short swords with jagged edges resembling that of a crystallised koukaku. The hilt consisted of a simple knuckle guard, black leather grip and a sharp and pointed pommel.

‘Shit!’ Jisung thought, panicking as he jumped back to avoid the blade.

Originally, the ghoul had been roaming around trying to find something to do, feeling bored of staying by Jeongin’s side constantly. After all, the human was a highschooler with a pretty much fixed schedule so it wasn’t exactly the most fun of things to do.

With the help of his enhanced hearing, he happened to pick up Chan and Hyunjin’s voice. Deciding to drop in and possibly spend some time with them, he had happily run over without much thought. As per usual, as soon as the orangette was set on something, he failed to pay much attention to anything else.

It was only after he had landed in front of them that he had realised Minho’s presence. Perhaps, it was due to Minho having been silent - courtesy of his bad mood - the entire time that Jisung hadn’t realised he was there.

While Minho may not be aware that it was Jisung under the mask, the orangette had no intention of harming the older and so he dodged, not bothering to attack at all. Chan and Hyunjin were still in a frenzy and tried all types of methods to try and convince the investigator to stop, “Minho, maybe you should stop attacking. They seem like they don’t mean any harm.”

Minho being a stubborn and ghoul hating character, didn’t even spare them a look as he coldly replied, “All ghouls are the same. They have no morals or sympathy. Why should I let them go?”

In fact, the investigator believed in his own words so much that he began to question the other two. “Why aren’t you two attacking? Are you really going to stand on this bastard’s side? Are you investigators or not?”

At that point, Chan and Hyunjin were dripping with cold sweat as they desperately tried to figure out how to get out of this mess. Signalling Jisung to drag out the fight as long as he possibly could, the two hastily began discussing what they could do since everything they had thought of earlier had failed.

Jisung held on, waiting for the other two. As the battle continued, the orangette was beginning to lose patience. Combined with Minho gradually getting accustomed to the ghoul’s defensive patterns, the investigator had managed to force Jisung to reveal an opening.

Without hesitation, Minho took the opportunity to attempt to land a solid blow. Jisung, having been holding back the entire time in efforts to avoid harming the older was able to dodge. However, due to how suddenly it had all occured his mask got ripped off in the process.

Shocked beyond comprehension, Minho looked at the younger as though he had betrayed him, stuttering out a small, “S-Sungie..?”

Before the male could think any further, he felt a strong jab on the back of his neck and with that the world around him swirled as his vision turned dark.


	27. The Sad Amigos

As Minho awoke, he tried to open his eyes only to feel a sharp, lingering, throbbing pain on the back of his head. He rolled onto his side, resting the left side of his body against the floor as he forced his eyes to open.

Instantly, his vision swirled, dark spots and a faint blur fogging it. Feeling dizzy, his eyes closed as he let out a small groan. After waiting for the pulsating sensation to alleviate a bit, he once again pried his open.

Minho's vision was still cloudy but much better. Blinking numerous times in an attempt to focus his vision, his vision finally cleared up, revealing the room he was in. The room was dark due lack of a proper light source, the only one being what little moonlight could pass through the window and the light that seeped through the crack underneath the door.

Momentarily dazed and puzzled, Minho began to try and recollect what had happened earlier - what might have caused his headache. Once he did, he couldn't help but let his eyes widen, immediately jolting up. Propping himself up using his elbows, he turned his head from side to side as he scanned his surroundings. Currently, it was probably in his best interest to get a clear picture on where he was currently being held captive.

A small room with nothing but a simple bedside table and the stark mattress he sat on. There was a wooden door on the left side of the room and a window to the right of the aforementioned mattress.

Looking towards the window, he quickly stood up and went up to it, quickly drafting up a list of things he had to do, nodding to himself as a form of self encouragement before falling into stance.

He raised one of his arms to the level of his neck, aiming his elbow towards the window, as he turned his head to prevent any glass shards from getting into his eyes if any of them were to come at his face.

To his surprise, however, even after shoving his elbow at the window with all of his strength, it merely bounced back. Let alone trying to break it, he hadn't even managed to make a single scratch; no change, no dent, no abnormalities, no nothing - just the exact same flat surface it had been.

As the investigator began to panic, wondering how he wasn't able to break the window, he heard faint chatter from the other side of the door. Slowly approaching the door, Minho stood near the door to try and hear what the people on the other side were talking about.

"Wait, but aren't there glass windows in all of the rooms? What if he escapes from there?" an unfamiliar voice spoke. Minho leaned the left side of his head towards the door as he placed his ear on the door to hear better.

"Well, with the frequent amount of people trying to break in or destroy the place, I decided to use up my recent paycheck to install reinforced glass on the windows. It was really expensive but I figured that if it prevents the place from becoming a warzone, I might as well do it." Another voice replied.

Slowly backing away from the door, Minho's eyes widened in apprehension after having heard that voice, 'Chan?! Why... Why do I hear him?! This doesn't make sense! The last thing I remember after seeing Sungie was a jab on my... neck...'

'They live together... He knows, doesn't he?'

Before the investigator could think any further, a sudden outburst of loud sobbing could be heard from the other side. "I think that's enough discussion for now. Let's just call it a night and hope this mess can get sorted out by tomorrow." Chan continued after momentarily pausing.

A couple of footsteps could be heard before any sound from the other disappeared and the lights from the other room turned off. After assuming that everyone had gone to their respective rooms, Minho slowly crouched against the wall. Leaning his head on top of the door, he sat on the cold wooden floor as he let his mind wander through the recent event.

He was lost; finding out that his long best friend turned out to be the very species he despised was akin to being punched in the balls - repeatedly even. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with the knowledge. On one hand was the retribution he believed all ghouls deserved and on the other was his friend.

Furthermore, it wasn't just any friend. It was Jisung.

'God, why him of all people?!' The male inwardly yelled, heart and mind being equally torn apart. Feeling frustrated he grit his teeth, running his trembling hand through his hair, tugging at them.

Being lost so deep in his own thoughts and apparent dilemma, Minho failed to notice the approaching footsteps and was shocked when he felt something knocking against the other side of the door, sending a small vibration through the wood.

"H-hyung.. Are you there?" A shaky voice called out.

Minho's breath was stuck in his mouth upon hearing the voice, mouth falling open as he struggled to keep himself silent, already knowing fully well who the owner of the voice was. After all, how could he not recognise the very person that had been plaguing his mind from the moment he had come to?

"Who am I kidding, of course you're there. I basically saw your body being carried into this room." Jisung continued, voice soft and trembling, almost as though he was trying his best not to burst into tears.

The younger was unaware of how just the sound of him had affected Minho, the older desperately wanting to console him. Alas, the rational part of his mind interfered with the wishes within his heart as he remained silent, one hand tightly clenched where it lay on his knees, the other pulling on his brown tresses.

"So.. you finally found I'm a ghoul, huh? You must feel really hurt because I hid this secret for so long. I'm hurting too, hyung.. It hurts.. really bad..." The orangette resumed, being unaware of the silent listener behind the door in his overwhelming sorrow.

It seemed the dam had burst open, tears falling onto the ground as the soft thuds it made upon landing alerting Minho of their presence. "I know you can't hear me right now since you're probably unconscious, but... I just want to say that I'm truly sorry, I really am. I've always tried to not hide anything from you. But even close friends hide things from each other, right?"

He clenched his fist even tighter, his other hand nearly tearing out the clump of hair it had been abusing as Minho's whole body started to tremble. The way Jisung's voice was clearly reflecting the pain the orangette was feeling. There was no doubt that it had caused the elder's heart shatter into a million pieces. Jisung's words had sounded genuine and Minho was almost certain that the younger was pouring out his actual emotions.

But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to forgive Jisung for what he had done. 'Jisung is a ghoul. He's the same as that bastard that ripped your parents apart right in front of you. They are horrible monsters who wouldn't give a second thought before killing the innocent. Jisung never cared about you, he was playing with you this whole time. He's no different from the others. He is a _monster_.'

Being unable to hold in his frustration any longer, he let go of his hair and balled his hand up into a fist, slamming it harshly on the wooden floor. The built up tears streamed down his cheeks silently - whether it was because of the throbbing pain on his hand or the pain in his heart, he really didn't know.

Obviously hearing the loud bang coming from the other side, Jisung immediately jumped from his position, startled.

"O-oh... S-sorry! You weren't supposed to hear that... I'll... I'll be going to my room..." Jisung said as his voice cracked. Stumbling as he stood up, he quickly went into his room, his breathing becoming unstable, "G-goodbye."

Behind the closed door, Minho's body was shaking - perhaps even more violently than Jisung's. Although he would never admit it at this point, he became more upset after having unintentionally hurt the orange-haired ghoul. Trying his best not to break down and sob, he repeated the same words in his head in a sad attempt to reassure himself, 'Jisung is a ghoul. He... He is a monster. Nothing more, nothing less.'

~*~*~*~*~

"Any sign of the two wanting to come out?" Chan said, a concerned look plastered on his face.

Shaking his head, Felix replied, "No... none of us heard any of their doors open."

"Then again Minho's door is locked... but he didn't even try to get out!" The blonde continued, shaking his head in exasperation as he added on, "Heck, there hasn't been a single squeak or peep from either of them!"

"God..." was all Chan could let out.

It had been almost a week since the whole disastrous meet-up which had placed them in their current circumstances and there was still no sign of it coming to a stop any time in the near future. After running into his room in his state of panic, Jisung had promptly decided to cry himself asleep. The morning after, the ghoul had even gone so far as to lock himself up the second Felix had walked out of the room.

Due to the fact that he had refused to come out of his room, he hasn't eaten anything for the past few days. Albeit, having given the privilege - since he's a ghoul - of being able to practically throw his hunger out to the wind for quite some time, if he chooses to continue like this, it would still lead to horrible consequences.

Fortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for Minho. Unlike the younger, Minho has been rather cooperative - so cooperative to the point they even began to question if this was part of his 'nefarious' plot to escape. Chan tried to shut this idea down, scolding them by saying they had been watching way too many films.

Felix, however, remained skeptical. It wasn't too improbable since they've barely been taking precautions against such possibilities. The way they provided Minho his food was a prime example: they just casually open the door and give him his food before locking it again on their way out.

Seeing his lack of dispute, arguments or any form of aggression, it gave them a small light of hope. Thus began their efforts to reason with the male. Alas, any attempts to merely start a conversation with the investigator was straight up ignored.

In reality, the only reason Minho was compliant was simply because he didn't want to try and test their strengths. He knew his mentor alone was a hard if not impossible battle to fight, let alone with the possibility that the other residents are ghouls. It was a battle he was bound to lose so why bother?

Chan refused to let the two males leave their rooms. He even made sure that there was at least one of them available at any moment to check on both of the rooms. It wasn't the fact that the ghoul didn't want the two from coming out the rooms - he would be more than happy to finally see the both of them face to face.

The white-haired ghoul was just less than ecstatic to find out what would and could happen if one of them were to escape. Minho exposing them to CCG and Jisung disappearing off of the face of the earth were the first things to come to mind should one ask Chan to name a few possibilities of what he thinks might run down.

The two may break out to a fight and Minho would let his fixed mindset destroy his closest friend due to the feeling of betrayal. A bond that the two of them had shared for so long could be cut like a thin string. To add wood to the fire, Chan could suffer great consequences back at his workplace, accused of being an intruder, to intercept and steal his enemies' intel, or worse executed.

"Still not coming out, huh?" Hyunjin asked, who had just entered the room, having returned after changing into his more casual wear. Despite asking the two, judging by the expressions of the two ghouls standing in front of him, he already knew the answer.

He let out an exasperated sigh, stopping them from replying as the two ghouls understood the hidden meaning behind it. Hyunjin turned his focus towards his mentor, "Hyung, Isn't it about time we talk them out of their rooms? I know we need to give them time to process stuff but this is taking too long."

"I can't do anything without worrying about them and there's only so much time until CCG realises the whole 'Minho is suffering from Mono' is a lie. His aunt is also beginning to feel a little angsty. I think it's about time we interfere and do something before all of this decides to blow up in our faces." the taller investigator added, sighing in worry.

"I know..." Chan said, sighing as he softly added, "I just wish we could've dragged it out for longer since there hasn't been much progress so far."

"I'm sure we can think of something else if it doesn't work out, Channie hyung." Felix said to the older.

"Well, I guess there's no harm in trying. You try talking to Minho while Lix and I talk to Jisung." Chan finally said, after thinking for some time, having taken their situation into deep consideration.

Walking towards the opposite direction, Chan and Felix made their way towards Jisung's room as Hyunjin turned his head towards Minho's room. The investigator had little to no clue on what it was that he could talk to the elder about in order to convince him, but he was at least willing to try.

Having come to a decision, he took a few steps forward, hesitantly knocking on the door as he called out, "Minho hyung?"

"I know you can hear me. You can't hide behind this door forever." He continued upon being greeted by silence with his voice a complete opposite to his choice of words - not at all threatening.

Still, there was no answer. Of course, the situation was far from bizarre, it was what Hyunjin had originally expected to happen anyway. If it were that easy to talk to the male, none of them would be in here in the first place.

Hyunjin then tried again, twisting the truth a little in hopes that making the situation seem just a bit more dire would trigger some sort of reaction out of the older male, "Your absence from the CCG is starting to take too long. The people over there are getting more suspicious and I don't know how much longer is your family going to stay silent about your sudden disappearance..."

Minho remained muted, not wanting to show any signs of him caving in although his mind was plagued with worry for his family. 'Auntie...' He silently thought to himself as he sat on the floor, leaning his head towards the bed's frame. Glancing towards the window as he watched the clouds pass by, he wondered how worried his family must be.

Hyunjin was, although he hated to admit it, disappointed at the lack of response. Quickly getting frustrated at his failure and the current state of affairs, he abruptly ended the one-sided conversation with a final jab, "Everyone is worried for you, please..."

Nothing but silence.

Hyunjin could only shake his head and sigh in defeat. He had run out of things to say and had no idea what could possibly rile Minho up. While knew how to anger and annoy the male since he had made it his prime objective to make the older open up, even if it had to be through excessively annoying the male, all the way from back when they had just become fellow mentees, none came to mind.

Him being extremely unfamiliar with these kinds of situations wasn't exactly helping his case. Furthermore, the two of them weren't close in the first place which only made it harder for him.

Amongst the lot of them, the only one who knew Minho well enough to be able to get through to him was Jisung and clearly, nothing was going to happen on that front. Hyunjin had entertained the idea of him, a mere acquaintance, miraculously persuading Minho and attempted to do so.

His apprehension proved to be correct. Not a single person in their group had managed to get Minho to talk beyond him asking to go the bathroom. Not Chan, not Felix, not Seungmin. Heck, not even Jeongin as an innocent teenager was able to get through to him!

As the tall investigator stood there waiting for Chan and Felix to return, he began to question why he was even trying to begin with. He wasn't exactly of much use to the group at the moment aside from keeping them updated with CCG's reaction to Minho's continuous absence. Truth be told even if he hadn't been there, Chan could easily have done the same.

'Why am I even here?' He thought, eyes dimming.

Soon, the two ghouls showed up, both having sad looks on their faces. As Chan walked up to Hyujin, he shook his head, quietly uttering, "No luck. Jisung won't even talk to us."

"Yeah... same here."

"We have to try again." Felix said, refusing to give up on them.

Chan nodded, whole heartedly agreeing with the younger. "I'm going to try guilt-trip Minho and see where that gets us. If I fail, then god knows what else is there to do." He said.

'I tried that. Didn't work. I guess he could do better than I could.'

Slowly approaching the only entrance of the room, the white-haired ghoul stared at the wooden door for some time before making a few knocks on the door, "Minho I'm begging you, _please_ just come out."

"Jisung, he... You should see how badly he's doing." Chan continued. On the other end, Minho had immediately sat upright, clenching his fists tightly at the mention of a very familiar name.

"He locked himself in his room and has spent the entire time crying. He won't talk, won't eat, won't drink. He won't even respond to the cheesecake we put by his door." He added, beginning to tear up the more he said.

Taking a small breath, he leaned his forehead against the door, "Minho, I know we don't know each other well... But please listen to me and understand. Jisung is not a bad person, not all ghouls are horrible-"

"Shut the fuck up! I don't care about how you see ghouls and I don't even want to try to understand! What kind of investigator are you?! Defending these creatures and even letting them stay at your house?! These _things_ literally kill humans! Humans who are just like us!" Minho suddenly shouted out, being unable to hold his pain much longer.

Continuing to yell, the investigator became increasingly angry, "This is how you treat these murderers? These abominations of nature who only exist to cause despair? Think of their relatives and acquaintances! How much they have had to suffer and mourn because of ghouls!"

"I don't care about Jisung! He is a ghoul, a _monster_! I fucking hate ghouls and I _especially_ fucking hate Jisung!" Minho screamed, his breathing starting to become much more heavier. The investigator was so angry to the point that he could no longer bottle it up, standing up as he harshly kicked the door.

Everyone was startled. Chan especially so, having jumped away from his position by the door. The white-haired ghoul calmed his racing and aching heart, inwardly feeling guilty for putting Minho under so much pressure. Enough pressure to have caused his outburst.

Chan didn't mean to do so. Guilt trip? Yes. But to push the younger this far? Definitely not. Feeling disappointed and annoyed with himself for hurting - at least this was what he thought - the younger, the male backed away from the door. He then gave Hyunjin and Felix a wry smile as he quietly left for his room.

Now being left to their own devices, the two males were confused as to what they were to do next. Seeing that the oldest ghoul had given up on trying, Felix and Hyunjin exchanged looks before deciding on following the elder, leaving Minho alone.

Unaware of what happened, Minho had curled up into a ball. His breathing became irregular as he placed his hands on his head, tugging at his hair as tears fell from his eyes. He hadn't actually meant anything that he had said about Jisung but with his stressed mind working slower than his mouth, it had caused him to blurt out anything without prior thought.

Although he knew that Jisung wasn't there to have heard him, it still felt as if he said right in front of his face. He felt guilty, as though someone had stabbed a knife through his chest. Minho's emotions were really all over the place. He had been avoiding them the entire time he was here.

He cared for Jisung a lot. After all they had been by each other's side for years. But at the same time, no matter how much he wants to leave this all behind and go back to becoming good friends, the traumatic events he had gone through as a child makes the rational part of his brain unable to think otherwise. It had resolutely told him to stick with what was originally his goals and beliefs - all ghouls are bad and he will kill as many of them as he could till the day he took his last breath.

Minho sat in the same position for a very long time. Even after all the light had seemed to disappear on the other side, he remained frozen - it was almost as though he had turned to stone. His body had begun to feel cold, his legs getting cramped up every now and then.

After some time of crying and feeling dazed, he decided to just go to sleep. As he stood up, the door of his room suddenly opened, revealing a familiar figure holding a silver briefcase. Having been practically attached at the hip with the younger for over half his life, Minho would have recognised the person's face even if the moonlight shining from the corridor was absent from the scene.

"I don't want to see you, Jisung." Minho said, turning his head towards the opposite direction to avoid eye contact. He didn't know why the ghoul was holding the briefcase, but he had a feeling in his gut that it wasn't going to be used for anything good.

Jisung's expression stayed flat, void of any emotions as he started to slowly approach the investigator. Minho inwardly began to panic, taking a step back everytime the younger male inched closer to him. He was afraid.

Afraid of what the orangette was planning to do with him, holding a seemingly normal briefcase, that he knew was anything but. It was a murder weapon in disguise, Minho's weapon. Unfortunately for the investigator, it wasn't long until his back was met with the wall.

Turning his head to the side, he closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Minho was startled when he felt something near his hand, having expected a painful stab. He subconsciously grabbed whatever it was due to the sheer panic that was coursing through his veins. Feeling the object in his hands, his eyes snapped wide open as he stared at Jisung in shock and confusion, realizing that the younger had given him the silver briefcase that he had thought would be the cause of his death.

The ghoul ignored the older's expression, reaching into his pocket. Taking Minho's empty hand, the younger male silently placed the item on the older's palm. Feeling something hard and cold with pointy edges, the older looked down to see what it was. Once again bewildered upon seeing that the younger had given him a _key_.

"Here is the key you can use to unlock the back door. After you're done, you can take a left towards the stairs which will lead you downstairs and by then you can just keep going straight until you find the back door. Unlock it with the key I just gave you and you'll be able to finally leave." Jisung said, his voice raspy from all the crying he had done prior to talking to the older.

Seeing the older remain still, the orangette displayed a bright smile on his face, seemingly trying to reassure the male as he added, "The others are asleep and won't be waking up any time soon, so they won't get in your way."

However, the younger male's words only served to make Minho even more confused, "I-I don't understand. What exactly do you want me to do?"

"I thought I was being pretty clear but... Here, let me help you." Jisung said, taking Minho's hand that was carrying the briefcase in his.

Bringing it towards his chest, he asserted,

" _I want you to kill me._ "


	28. The Sad Amigos Pt 2

Being taken aback by what Jisung had just told him, Minho immediately retracted his hand. The speed at which he did so was as though it had touched flames, back to his side at a blink of an eye as he let out a few words of incredulity, "W-wait.. What?! What do you m-mean- Why wo-"

However, the investigator was instantly silenced at the giggle that escaped the younger male who was standing right in front of him, the male that had caused his already turbulent feelings to worsen. It had been quite some time since he had seen the ghoul laugh and although he wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself, it made him a bit sad that he had to hear it under such circumstances.

"Oh hyung, you've always been such a comedian! I loved listening to your jokes, too bad I won't be able to hear them once I'm gone..." Jisung chuckled, the sound somehow mocking as his eyes teared up. Adamant to not show Minho any signs of hesitance, the younger male blinked rapidly in an attempt to will his tears to stay at bay.

Of course, Minho wasn't fooled. The orangette might have hid his tears but the slight sniffles was more than enough for the older to know that the younger had been driven to a point of tears. Honestly, he was originally shocked by Jisung's sudden appearance. Along with the younger's weird behavior, he had known something was bound to happen. But this, this was not at all what he had expected.

Never in his life so far had he ever seen or thought that Jisung was even capable of acting in that manner and frankly, it felt like he was talking to a completely different person. It was as though the Jisung he had known was gone, buried under whatever facade the younger had on. Despite wanting to ask him about it, Minho was completely floored, unable to find the correct words for it; he just stood in silence, avoiding eye contact.

Jisung wasn't a big fan of the elder's lack of response, grabbing Minho's hand. Shoving the briefcase that the older male had violently rejected before into it, tilting his head as he goaded him, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Didn't you say you hated ghouls and wanted to wipe them of the earth? Why are you hesitating now?"

As those words left his mouth, Minho felt as if something had just rushed through his heart; penetration quick but blade buried snug in it, unwilling to be taken out. Trying to wrap his mind around what was going on, his mind was eventually led to thoughts that Jisung had prompted.

Thoughts about how, not too long ago, he would sit down with the younger as he talked to the younger about his goal of exterminating ghouls. If he remembered correctly, the last of such conversations was back when he was still training to become an investigator. Seeing that Jisung had clearly remembered their conversation, he didn't know what to feel.

He felt bad, now knowing that the younger had sat through so many sessions of him basically proclaiming that he would do everything in his power to kill him. How bad must the younger have felt? Alas, these thoughts and feelings were quickly thrown out of the window as a different one came to the surface, 'No! He's a ghoul! He doesn't deserve your sympathy!'

Minho knew that this was a great opportunity. It's not everyday that one finds a ghoul who's willing to be killed and truthfully, Jisung's coming forth to do this is making his job much, much easier. Besides, it's not as if the older male was being given any other option regarding this situation - he and Jisung had gone too deep into the rabbit hole.

Swiftly tugging his hand out of the younger's grip, Minho stared at the ground, his voice betraying his resolution, exhibiting the hesitance that he hadn't wanted to show, "I'll... I'll do it."

Hearing what the older male just said, Jisung's face seemingly lit up. He took a few steps back and spread his arms wide open as he gave Minho a soft and encouraging smile, "Whenever you're ready..."

Now that it had come to the moment of truth, the briefcase in his hand felt incredibly heavy. Closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, Minho slowly fell into his fighting stance. Pressing on the button that was hidden on the handle of his briefcase, the familiar feeling of two red daggers became apparent to his calloused hands.

Minho reopened his eyes, gaze having yet to meet Jisung's instead being very much stuck to the ground beneath his feet. He held one of his daggers to his side, not planning to use it. He knew that using one dagger would be enough to quickly jab on the ghoul's chest to quickly kill him. He could at least provide the ghoul with the mercy of a quick death since the orangette had willingly given in, he reasoned with himself, trying to justify his actions.

As he mentally prepared himself, Minho felt his hands start to quiver. It was far from the first time for his hands to tremble in battle. However, it was unknown to him as to why, this time, his hands were shaking even more violently than usual. His hands shook to the point it was near uncontrollable.

Thinking about it. His quacking hands had always been a result of anxiety. But what had caused it to worsen? Was it because he hasn't held a weapon in quite some time? Was it... Was it because he was about to murder his, previously best, friend?

'No! That's ridiculous!' He shook off his thoughts, lifting his head to face Jisung, 'Just finish it quickly!'

When he saw the younger's face, however, Minho froze. Tears escaped from Jisung's puffy, red eyes as they slowly trickled down the curve of the younger's chubby cheeks. Seeing this tears, involuntarily, began to form in the corner of his eyes. Minho looked away, not wanting Jisung to see his state.

_He felt... guilty._

The voices in his head argued, growing louder and louder each second that passed by. He wasn't sure whether to feel happy or not when the voice that had won the battle was the one that was pressuring him to finally finish the job. The louder the voice, the more painful the headache that was a result of it became.

Unable to bear with the agony for much longer, his body reacted instinctively, charging forward in hopes for the voice to stop. To his immense relief, it did. With the voice disappearing, he came back to his senses, stopping just as the tip of the dagger was about to hit Jisung's chest.

Now that he had stopped, Minho remained rooted in place, his body unwilling to comply with his wishes. Jisung, who had immediately closed his eyes when he saw the older male lunge forward, became confused when there was a lack of the pain he had been anticipating and opened his eyes.

To his surprise, he saw Minho standing right in front of him. The older male's hands madly shook, the intensity of the tremor increasing beyond what he himself had previously thought to be the peak. As a result of his quivering and subsequently unstable grip, both of the daggers he was holding fell from his hands.

Turning his palm over to face him, a few drops of tears fell from his eyes, landing on his hands as he trembled, "I-I... I can't... I can't do it..."

Jisung's mouth opened in disbelief; as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard, as though he had truly given up on the idea that the older male would do anything other than kill him.

He grabbed onto Minho's shoulders with both of his hands and slightly shook the older, desperately yelling at him, his voice and resolving breaking slightly, "Why... Why can't you do it?!"

Millions of questions ran through his mind as the orangette let go of his hold, falling to his knees. His eyes moved frantically across the floor board, tears forming, as he let out a whimper, "I don't get it."

He looked up to stare the older in the eye, tears falling as he slowly became frustrated. So Minho not only hated him but he wanted him to despair? Wouldn't even give him the mercy of a quick death? Wouldn't even let him sacrifice himself? Wouldn't let him leave his suffering behind?

Face turning red, the orangette practically wailed out his grievances, "I clearly heard you say that you hate me. Why can't you let me _die_?!"

Minho was shocked. Did the younger male really want to die that badly?

Thinking about it only got him more frustrated and he was unable to prevent his feelings from bursting forth as he almost desperately screamed back at the ghoul, "Why do you want me to kill you so badly?! What's gotten into you?!"

"What's gotten into me?!" Jisung repeated, letting out a scoff. Both of his eyes turned red, his kagune sprouting from behind, displaying the sheer intensity of anger and frustration that overtook his body, "You dense son of a bitch! Don't you get it?! Do you think I enjoy this life?! Do you think I ever wanted to be born a ghoul?!"

The younger male's words triggered the older a lot and he was originally going to retort. However, the appearance of Jisung's kagune had left him silent. His muscles tensing up as it became filled with the instinctual want to run away.

But, for whatever reason, he just stood there - rooted in place.

"For as long as I remember, I never liked being a ghoul. Sure, we got the inhuman strength and kagunes and all, but for what? I know for a fact that most people, just like you, don't like ghouls like me and would do anything to murder us. They would discriminate against us, manipulate us, torture us, and most importantly, kill us." The orangette vented.

"And for what? Over something I have no control over?! Surely it's not my fucking fault that my body can't process anything that's not human meat?" Jisung says as he aggressively prodded Minho's torso, as he tries his best to hold back the already flowing tears from trickling down even more." I may not have what you humans consider a 'normal' digestive system, but I still have a heart!"

"You may think otherwise but the truth is! Of course, I feel horrible for killing innocent people! I feel horrible for having to lie to people about what I am! I have to spend every waking hour feeling like that because you stupid ass humans just can't stand not being at the top of the fucking food chain!" He said, as he inched closer to Minho, slowly decreasing the amplitude of his voice with every closing distance between the two. "Not to mention, I'm best friends with a human - well, I _was._ "

"Hell, I even stopped hunting on my own because every time I would eat, I would always be reminded of you! I felt horrible, ok?!" He said as Minho saw his Kagune twitch and exerted a force so strong that the wooden floor beneath them had snapped, leaving a hole. "If I never found Young Wings and met with San hyung and Chan hyung, I would have probably _died."_

"Do you know how much I envy the relationship you have with auntie? I don't even know if any of my relatives are alive. Heck, I don't even remember my parent's faces." He said as he smiled apathetically "I've always been... Alone."

"I couldn't go to school, eat any of those tasty looking street foods, go to certain places. Do you know just how much I yearn for a normal life? A life where I can just live without having to worry about someone coming to kill me just because I was hungry and ate." He said, while looking down, his head hung low, exposing his vulnerability to Minho.

"You were the only person that made this world bearable for me. I knew you wouldn't want to be my friend once you find out that I'm a ghoul so I had no other option than to hide it."

"Even then, do you know how painful it was to hide this for so long from you? It felt like I wasn't being a good friend, but there was nothing I could do about it!"

"But now that you know, there is no reason for you to stay by my side; nothing that's stopping you from killing me." Jisung made a short pause, taking a deep breath. His voice trembled, revealing the pain he was feeling, "Hyung, do you think if I die now, I'll get a chance to reincarnate as a normal human being and finally have a normal life?"

Minho, who had been watching the ghoul in silence, felt horrible. He felt so guilty - never has he ever considered the possibility of ghouls doing what they do unwillingly. Hearing what Jisung had just told him, multiple scenarios came into mind. How many helpless ghoul children lost their parents, forced to live a lifestyle they had no say in?

For once, he felt like maybe humans and ghouls weren't so different. At the very least he was beginning to feel like he could relate to ghouls to some extent. Although the younger's rant didn't directly change his perspective of ghouls being horrible creatures - he's been living in that reality for far too long for a few moments of rage filled words to change that - his eyes had been opened to the truth.

He was reminded that just as there are some horrible ghouls, there are horrible humans at the same time, 'And... and maybe not all ghouls are bad...' Hit with this sudden realization. Minho felt idiotic. He was the frog who thought he had seen the whole world, only to find that he had been at the bottom of a well.

Gritting his teeth, he couldn't rid himself of the feelings of frustration and disappointment that he had for himself. Now, knowing what he had to do, the older male knelt down next to the younger - completely disregarding the younger's kagune - as he brought Jisung into his embrace.

"Don't." He says as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in shame.

"Don't you ever ask me to kill you ever again!" Minho exclaims in a hitched breath as he grabs hold of Jisung's lean shoulder.

"You might be a ghoul, but you're still Jisung. The same Jisung that I grew up with. The same Jisung who keeps pestering me to eat cheesecake with him." He says in between hitches of his breath, trying to control his own tears as he looks at Jisung's teary and worried eyes, that face had surged emotions in his wallowed sadness, unable to control it any longer and spoke once more.

"I'm sorry that it took me so long to realise... but now I know..." He says as he hugs the orangette, who's still struck with paralyses.

"So _please_ , stay by my side."

"I am so sorry, someone as good as you should never have to endure something like this. I was selfish." He could feel Jisung trembling in his hold, as he slowly starts crying too, a moment of silence, filled with the feeling of acceptance and warmth of the two in each other's embrace

There was nothing but silence for some time and the elder got worried. "Jisung-"

"You don't hate me.." Jisung said still in disbelief that Minho is still willing to accept him for who he is, after all the time that Minho had spoken of killing his own kind, how much he despised them and wished they never existed. He imagines it would take quite some time to adapt to the news that Jisung isn't who he think he was. However that didn't stop words expressing his relief falling out from his mouth like a bullet train, "I'm... I'm so happy but I can't stop crying. Hyung, you really don't hate me right?"

"Of course, I don't..." Minho said warmly as he hugged Jisung even tighter than before, "How could I ever hate you?"

"I thought you said you hated me that one time I got you scolded when I nearly set auntie's kitchen on fire?" Jisung tilted his head, jokingly questioning the older male. The two of them looked at one another, tears still falling freely as laughter slowly bubbled up from the back of their throats, the atmosphere lifting up just a bit.

Behind the door, Chan, Felix, Seungmin, and Jeongin - who was being carried piggy-back style by Seungmin - listened to the two in silence. The lot had come after hearing the loud screaming and came sprinting over, thinking something terrible might have happened. However, having come near to the end of the quarrel, Felix quickly stopped them from interfering when he realised what the two were doing.

As soon as Minho and Jisung had broken into fits of laughter, Felix opened the door , letting them see the two kneeling figures. Chan, who was the last to enter leaned against the door frame, shaking his head as he sighed, thinking, 'I know I should be relieved that the two finally set their differences aside and I am super happy, but damn is that floor going to be expensive to fix...'

After the two had enough sobbing and laughing on the floor, they realized the presence of the other residents of the cafe who had been watching them cackle for quite some time, their expressions having slowly shifting into judgemental ones when Minho and Jisung's laughter hadn't stopped despite a solid 5 minutes passing by.

Jisung seeing this, turned red as he sputtered in embarrassment although this quickly turned into anger. He lunged at them, petulantly hitting each of the new arrivals on the arm, saying that it was the punishment they deserved for invading his and Minho's privacy.

The older male, however, didn't say anything and instead sat in silence, turning his head away. He knew that he hadn't exactly been the most cooperative of people - well outside of not trying to escape - in the past few days and he felt ashamed. Especially now that he understood why they had done so.

Constantly being reminded of his sudden outburst earlier in the day, he couldn't even bear to look at any of them. Truthfully, with how he's been treating them - like they didn't even exist - he would understand if some of them would be unable to let it go easily. He just hoped that they would forgive him eventually.

Chan, being the ever so intuitive person he was, had noticed this and immediately approached the male, kneeling down to get into his eye level. Slowly, he placed his palm on Minho's shoulder, showing a warm reassuring smile. The younger investigator turned his head to face Chan, jumping a bit in surprise, having not expected that someone would suddenly touch his shoulder.

When the younger saw the smile plastered on the white-haired ghoul's face, it made him feel a bit more calm. For the first time in a long time, his muscles relaxed as he let his guard down. For the first time since he was placed in this room, Minho had finally felt that he was somewhere that was truly safe.

Returning the smile with a small one of his own, he quietly whispered, "Thank you..."

~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, everything seemed like it went back to normal. Minho had gone to CCG for work early in the morning along with Chan, both in a good mood. Next to go was Jisung and Jeongin, the older of the two having taken it upon himself to drop the younger off at his school before going off on his own to run around the city and get some fresh air. Initially planning to stay at home, Seungmin was the last to leave, having left only after receiving a call from work asking him to come in.

Picking up the dirty utensils which had been used by the previous customer off of the table, Felix couldn't help but happily hum to himself with a bright smile on his face. It had been a while since he had been in such a good mood and he couldn't help but show his joy through his practically beaming and glowing self.

Quickly finishing this table, he moved to the next table and continued to do so until he had a plastic basin full of dirty cutlery, plates, and cups. Carrying the basin towards the back door, he was suddenly stopped by San at the counter, who had called him over.

"Once you're done carrying that to back, you can have your break. I better not catch you sneaking out until closing hours." San said, jokingly bringing up the previous incident - the last time he had slipped away to explore Seoul with Jisung

Felix couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle, nodding as he carefully opened the door and dropped off the basin by the sink once he reached the kitchen. The blonde made a quick stop to his bedroom, taking his phone that was placed on his bedside table - he had forgotten to bring it with him when he went to help San - and laid down on his bed.

Unlocking his phone, he stared at his phone for some time as he scrolled through his messages. He continued to do so for a while, laughing at the occasional goofy post he saw on social media until a notification had suddenly popped down from the top of the screen. Noticing at the very familiar name attached to it, Felix instinctively pressed on the notification, bringing him over to the chat room.

**'Yongbok-ah... Please tell me we can meet up today...'**

**'I miss you....'**

It was Changbin.

Reading the message, Felix felt horrible and immediately texted back. He hadn't been able to go out as much due to the recent event with Jisung and Minho which meant that he hadn't seen Changbin for the past week. 

**'Oh my god of course we can!（＞人＜；)'**

**'I'll meet you when my shift is done:D'**

**'Where do you wanna meet up?? (●'◡'●)'**

After texting each other back and forth, Felix realized that his break was finally over and he had to get back to work. He sent a few short text messages before he stood up and went back to the front. He then proceeded to help clean some tables, occasionally serving some of the customers.

Once the cafe was finally at its closing hours, the blonde ghoul helped the other staff to do some of the menial tasks like dishwashing before quickly excusing himself as he went to his room to change.

He put on a plain white t-shirt, tucking it into a pair of tight black jeans. He then donned spanish blue long-sleeved collared shirt which was so big on him that it pooled down all the way to his mid thigh over it. Walking over to the door, he stopped to put on some dark grey Jordan 1s and his mask before leaving.

Jumping from building to building, Felix was on his way towards the location he and Changbin had agreed to meet up in earlier. As for the actual destination they were going to, the older male had said that he had a place in mind that he wanted to visit with him. Although the older didn't specify where they were going, Felix didn't mind, having complete faith in the ghoul - he wouldn't let him down.

Arriving at the rooftop of the predetermined building, the blonde ghoul stood there and waited for Changbin. He waited for some time, looking at his phone every now and then to pass the time away and to see if anyone had texted him. Feeling a presence slowly approach from behind him, he turned his head back, quickly started analysing the person.

The figure was short, donning himself in all black clothing, making it hard for Felix to make out what the figure actually wore in the dim lighting. From what little he could see, the figure was wearing a black bomber jacket over a black turtleneck under, with black pants and black Adidas shoes. The fit was simple but gave contrast to the menacing mask he had on.

Noticing the very familiar mask, Felix ecstatically greeted the figure, a wide smile hidden underneath his own, "Changbin hyung! It's great to finally see you again!"

"Hmph, so you're not going to say anything about you ignoring me for the past week?" The older jokingly huffed and stomped his foot, holding in his laughter as the younger let out a small giggle and played along with him, faking little sniffs as he replied, "Sorry, hyung. You know that some things came up back at the cafe. Will you ever forgive me?"

"Of course I will, Lixie." the older responded, purposely lowering his voice to act like he was seriously saddened that the younger thought he would do anything other than forgive him. After he said that, he embraced the younger as though consoling him.

Now, done with their little skit, the two pulled away from the hug and broke out into laughter as they finally exchanged proper greetings before Changbin recalled what he had planned for them, "Anyway, shall we go now?"

"Mmm. Lead the way, hyung." Felix said, nodding.

The older offered the younger his hand, pulling the blonde along as the two ghouls began jumping from building to building, making their way to their final destination. When Changbin felt that they were close enough, he let go of the younger's hand and jumped down to the closest alleyway, taking off his mask and stored it away before gesturing to the younger to follow suit.

Casually walking out of the alleyway, they continued the rest of their journey by foot. Following behind the older, Felix noticed music that seemed to become increasingly louder the more they walked. Soon enough the two ended up in front of a small building which the younger ghoul noted to be the source of the loud music.

If the loud music in the middle of the night, the colorful blaring lights that escaped through the glass doors and the presence of a bouncer by it was any indication, the blonde reckoned that the place was a bar. Thinking nothing much of it, there were many bars across the city, he kept walking forward and was about to pass by when suddenly, someone grabbed his arm, stopping him from continuing forward.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Changbin said, laughing a bit. The younger was confused, tilting his head, "Uh, to wherever it is you were going to take me."

"Well, we're here." The older giggled once more, pointing his thumb back towards the glass doors of the small building behind them. He let go of Felix's hands as he raised his hands, shaking them widely as he excitedly exclaimed, "Tada!"

Felix froze in place, millions of thoughts running through his mind. Although one in particular stood out, 'He wanted to go to a bar? W-with me?' The thought prompted his whole body to flush red.

"Why do you want to go here?" The blonde whisperingly questioned. The older, remained oblivious to the things running through the younger's mind, plastering a confused look as he responded with questions of his own, "Well, why wouldn't I? Don't you think the place looks very cool and lively? Do you not like this place?"

Felix returned the older's perplexed expression by tilting his head, confused as well. He fought with himself in his mind, trying to decide what to do, 'Hyung really wants to go though...'

Steeling himself, the blonde ghoul nodded at the older who smiled. They walked to the entrance and after exchanging a few words with the bouncer, Changbin opened the door, gesturing for the younger to go in.

Felix merely popped his head through the door for a few seconds before his whole body flushed red. He immediately grabbed Changbin's hand and dragged him away, stuttering as he said "I... On s-second thought, I don't feel like going to a... crowded place today."

"What? Why'd you suddenly change your mind? You seemed fine with it just a second ago though?" Changbin said confused, he just decided to follow Felix as he briskly walked away from the entrance, shuffling his way across the surge of people that were headed in the opposite direction to him. He could feel the younger's pace increasing along with the distance between the two, as Changbin stumbled trying to keep up with him. However he noticed something was wrong with him that day, so he dare not ask what was bothering him, based on the look plastered on his face.

Felix, whose face was still flushed as he walked while looking at the ground, his hair covered his face to hide the fact that he was indeed, embarrassed, but he didn't want to let the clueless Changbin know, no matter what.

"Let's just go somewhere with less people." He says and the elder complies.

"So, what have you been up to while I was away?" Changbin asks, noticing the boundaries that Felix seemed to be putting up with the way he acted, and decided to change the subject to get Felix to forget about what was bothering him, as they slowed down to a much normal pace the more he noticed Felix had calmed down and started letting down the invisible limits, letting his hands go.

"Hm.. I didn't do much. Mostly went to places we've been to and checked on you to see if we could hang out. " FLeix said, grateful that Changbin had changed the subject, however what he does not know is that he did it on purpose, as he is under the impression that Changbin is easily distracted, based on his past experiences from their many outings.

"Really...? Hyung, I'm really touched but you didn't have to wait for me. You could've at least gone with your other friends." Felix said, shocked at Changbin's answer.

"Oh, but, I don't have other friends." Changbin replied in an indifferent tone.

After hearing such shocking news, Felix couldn't help but to stop in his tracks, his mouth wide open. Realizing that the younger had stopped walking, Changbin also stopped, turning his head towards the ghoul to see what had happened.

"So.. I'm your only... friend? Seriously?" The blonde ghoul asked in disbelief.

He could see Changbin get flustered as he heard what Felix said and reached his hand to the back of his nape sheepishly.

"Well, yeah? Do you not remember how awkward I was with you when we first met?"

At that very moment, Felix felt cracks starting to form in his heart. How could someone as amazing and funny as Changbin not have any friends other than himself? He knew that the elder wasn't the best with words, but, surely someone would have been able to overcome that barrier as he had done?

Without hesitating much, the blonde approached the male and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him towards the opposite direction. Being taken by surprise and not understanding what he was doing, for the second time that night, Changbin asked the younger, "F-felix! What are you doing?!"

Turning his head as he smiled, Felix replied, "I'm going to help you make some new friends!"

~*~*~*~*~

Back at the cafe, all of its residents - except for Felix - along with Hyunjin and Minho, were relaxing in the living room, talking to each other. Chan had decided to take this opportunity and talk about things and clear up some misunderstandings for Minho to better understand the situation that they were all in.

"So, you're telling me that you're actually a ghoul? I had my suspicions after the trial but I never thought I would get an answer. Anyway, how could the CCG have missed this?" Minho asked, sipping the coffee that Chan had previously prepared.

"Ugh, don't even bother. None of us know how he does it and everytime we ask about it, hyung would always say that he's some 'special' ghoul or something." Jisung, who had been clinging onto the investigator's arm ever since he came home, dismissed the elder as he shook his head, to which Chan could only reply with a sheepish laugh.

Being reminded of something, Seungmin turned his head to face the white-haired ghoul and asked, "Speaking of this _special_ ability of yours, when we had to send Innie to the hospital, Felix went through one of the RC scanners and he didn't get caught either. Do you know how he was able to do that?"

"Oh yeah! I remember that! I was there when it happened! Come on hyung, is there something you and Lix have been hiding from us? I want to be able to pass through those stupid gates too!" Jisung claps as he shows excitement, however a glint of doubt still resides within him, that Chan wouldn't reveal anything about it.

"H-hey, let's not talk about this now. Surely, Minho wants to know something else..." Chan gestures at Minho, smiling a bit before quickly looking away to avoid excessive eye contact, since he was, after all, hesitant to talk about it in the first place.

Jisung tugs on Minho's clothes and stares at him pleadingly, Minho smiles at the gesture as he slings an arm around Jisung's shoulder, turning to Chan as he says, "Actually, I'm rather curious on this topic. You didn't tell me that there were other ghouls who have the ability to pass through the RC scanners."

Feeling as though he was being backed into a corner, he began to feel cold sweat forming on his temples. Truth be told, Chan was less reluctant and more confused on how to answer the question. Where would he even start?

Desperate for ways to get out of his situation, the white-haired ghouls mind raced. Being so deep in his thoughts, the male couldn't help but to jump at the sound of the door opening. The door swung open, revealing two figures, one of whomst was wearing something blue and the other wearing a completely black fit.

"Felix, good to see you come back home." Hyunjin, who had similarly jumped up in surprise, greeted the familiar figure. Noticing the figure standing behind the blonde, the tall investigator ignored the said figure's presence, asking Felix instead, "Oh? Who's the shorty behind you?"

Clearly, Changbin was less than appreciative of the remark. The ghoul quickly scanned the people in the room before facing the one who had treated him rudely, immediately giving him a death glare. Although Hyunjin would probably never admit it, the glare made him feel a bit intimidated, somehow picking up a familiar sense of danger.

Felix lightly slapped Hyunjin's shoulder, as he glared at him as though warning him to 'be nice' to the new guest, before smiling and turning around to gesture to the ghoul standing behind him as he introduced the older. "Everyone, this is Changbin. He's looking for some friends so I'm hoping you can welcome him with open arms!"

Happy that the opportunity to change the subject had finally presented itself out of mercy, Chan was the first to react, " _ **G'day mate!**_ You must be the Changbin that Felix likes to talk about!"

"I'm Chan, nice to meet you-" The white-haired ghoul warmly greeted only to get cut off by a peculiar comment from the short, dark-haired ghoul himself, "Chan, was it? Your scent is kind of... weird."

Taking the strange comment the wrong way, Chan's face turned red in embarrassment as he whined, "Huh?! But I just took a shower! Did the washable hair dye not wash out properly?" It really didn't help that he had been sitting in the living room with the others for quite a long time. Had they been silently enduring the horrible odor he had been emitting? Why hadn't they said something earlier?

"No, no. I didn't mean it in that way. I meant your ghoul scent, it's quite similar to Felix's actually." The dark-haired ghoul shook his head, elaborating on what he had actually meant when he had made the comment which had promptly caused Chan to freeze up as he let out a small, "Oh."

Seeing the older male's reaction, Felix's curiosity was sparked, causing him to turn to ask the other ghouls what Changbin had meant only to be met by blanks faces - as it seemed, was Chan the only one who knew about it.

Representing his, and the other's, desire to understand, the blonde ghoul snapped his head towards the white-haired male and asked, "Ghoul scent? Hyung, what does that mean?"

Knowing that there was really no escaping it now, Chan sighed to himself and said, "Felix, everyone... There's something I've been meaning to tell you all. But before that, Lix, could you show the others your kakugan?"

Not really understanding why the older wanted him to do so, Felix had originally wanted to question his request but upon seeing the troubled look on Chan's face he decided to cut the male some slack, silently complying as he shut his eyes closed.

It had actually been a while since he had to show his eye, whether it be for hunting or just because someone had asked him to and he was worried he might be unable to do so. Hence, the closing of his eyes. However, it seemed that since he had gained a bit more experience, no matter how little, it was easier to will his left eye to show its other form.

To his surprise, when he finally opened his eyes, he saw that the white-haired ghoul had also activated his kakugan. Contrary to the expected both eyes however, only his right eye was glowing red. It seemed that it wasn't only the blonde who was surprised as everyone in the room held their breaths.

It hadn't even crossed their minds that someone else would be able to do something that most, if not all of them, had previously thought only Felix could do. Not wanting things to stretch further, Chan finally answered,

"I am, _also_ , a one-eyed ghoul."

**Author's Note:**

> This story can also be found on:  
> Quotev under thebermudatriangle  
> Wattpad under milkyeong


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